ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Sunday reported progress in the internationally-backed process to unify Peshmerga forces but called for “faster” steps to be taken amid regional instability.
“While good steps have been taken, we demand more, and the pace of progress must be much faster,” he stated in a speech delivered in the capacity of the Commander-in-Chief of Peshmerga armed forces during the graduation ceremony of 210 officers from the Qalachwalan military academy in the northwest of Sulaimani.
The academy was founded by the late Iraqi president and Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani in 1992. It is affiliated with the federal government in Baghdad. All Sunday graduates were Kurds.
“The protracted pace of the process needs to be resolved,” Barzani added, citing “regional challenges and conflicts” that he said necessitate accelerating the unification.
His remarks come as, based on a memorandum of understanding between the Peshmerga ministry and the US, all partisan structures in the ministry have to be abolished and the Kurdish force need to be brought under a unified command by September.
Concerns intensified after reports that the US 2027 Counter-ISIS Train and Equip Fund (CTEF) proposed reducing direct operational funding for anti-ISIS efforts involving Peshmerga forces, while allocating $118.9 million to Iraqi defense forces.
“The unification of the Peshmerga forces serves as a guarantee and a fundamental pillar for safeguarding the constitutional rights and federal status of the Kurdistan Region,” President Barzani said.
The US-led global coalition against ISIS has been assisting the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in bringing the Peshmerga under an integrated command.
Reaffirming the Region’s appreciation to the coalition, President Barzani thanked “the continued solidarity” of the mission in advancing the reforms in the Peshmerga ministry.
The ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) both maintain separate military formations - Unit 80 and Unit 70, respectively. The two units have around 100,000 members who have had independent - often irreconcilable - chains of commands.
However, political will and pressure from the US-led coalition have enabled steady progress in the unification process.
President Barzani in February signed a decree to formalize the authority of Regional Command 1 and Regional Command 2, under which Units 70 and 80 are set to be reorganized into 10 divisions. Subsequently, KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani issued an executive order conferring legal authority and budget responsibilities.
While the command structure of the KDP-led Unit 80 has already been disintegrated and its heavy weapons and personnel transferred to the ministry, the integration of Unit 70 has yet to be completed.
