WASHINGTON DC—Head of the Kurdish delegation to the US-led coalition conference on ISIS, Fuad Hussein, says that the main theme of the gathering was “defeat and end” of ISIS.
Hussein, who is Chief of Staff of the Kurdish president and represented the Kurdistan Region at the coalition meeting, said he did not want to draw comparisons between this and previous international conferences against ISIS.
He added however this time the Kurds were invited and attended all meetings alongside the Iraqi delegation.
“This was the first time KRG delegation took part in this conference.” Hussein told Rudaw. “The previous three conferences did not have us. We tried with the US and Iraq and the Iraqis gave different excuses. But this time we were invited and that is a difference.”
Hussein said that the Kurds received a warm welcome from President Trump himself and his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Whereas previous international anti-ISIS meetings centered around military operations to defeat the radical group, this time around, according to Hussein, “all sides agreed that ISIS was on its last legs militarily in Iraq and Raqqa, but as a terrorist force it is likely to remain under a different name and its ideology will remain, too.”
The head of the Kurdish delegation added that in addition to all the military talk, the economic situation of the Kurdistan Region was also a topic of discussions in all the meetings.
Acting State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said at a press briefing on Thursday that the presence of a Kurdish delegation at this week’s US-led anti-ISIS international coalition meeting in Washington, D.C., shouldn't be seen as a shift in US policy in regards to the Kurdistan Region, a US official indicated Thursday.
However Toner, who was deputy spokesperson during the Obama administration, reiterated continued US respect for the sacrifices and effectiveness of Kurdish Peshmerga in the fight against ISIS.
He said: “We’ve been very clear in this administration and the previous administration our deep respect for the role that Kurdish fighters and – have played in the fight against ISIS, and we have great respect for the sacrifices and also great respect for what capable forces they are and the role that they played thus far.”
Hussein told Rudaw on Thursday that both Trump and Secretary of State Tillerson were eager to know the nature of ties between Baghdad and Erbil in the post-ISIS era.
They hoped “these relations will expand and improve,” he added.
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