ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Region has received $22.2 million in financial assistance for the Peshmerga and will go to paying soldiers’ salaries, a Kurdish official said.
“The first batch of US financial assistance for the Peshmerga forces has been received and deposited at the Kurdistan International Bank,” Jamal Mohammed, the Peshmerga chief of Staff, told Rudaw.
He disclosed that the sum totaled $22.2 million and that “the money will soon be distributed among the Peshmerga.”
Mohammed explained that the funds were part of an agreement signed between Erbil and Washington “for the Peshmerga in its fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).”
He went on to explain that the sum will be distributed “over 14 Peshmerga brigades, four military training bases and five Peshmerga ministry battalions.”
In earlier comments to Rudaw, Peshmerga Ministry Chief of Staff Jabar Yawar said that, “according to the KRG-US memorandum, the salaries of part of the Peshmerga fighting on the frontlines will be given by the US, and the other half the Peshmerga ministry will provide.”
The July 12 agreement between Washington and Erbil pledges $415 million in US funds to go towards Peshmerga salaries.
The memorandum also requires the Kurdish Peshmerga to assist Iraqi forces in the battle for Mosul and allow passage of Iraqi troops through Kurdish territories. It also states that Kurdish forces are expected to withdraw from areas liberated during the offensive.
Some Iraqi officials and MPs have criticized Erbil for signing the memorandum without informing Iraq’s central government, despite a statement from Iraq’s defense ministry last week confirming that the deal was signed with Baghdad’s consent.
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