SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The President of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Bafel Jalal Talabani Along with the Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani met with General John W. Brennan Commander of Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR) on Tuesday in Erbil.
In a meeting with Major General John Brennan, commander of CJTFOIR, attended by numerous of the Region’s military and security officials, the reformation process within the Peshmerga forces as well as the challenges and obstacles in front of the process were discussed, a source told Esta Media Network.
Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Region President Barzani said in a tweet, “the meeting was discussed Peshmerga reform process. I reiterated my full support to expedite efforts to build a modern, strong and unified Peshmerga force”.
The Kurdistan Region Military force (Peshmerga) is divided between two major political parties, The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), since the region recognized formal autonomy in 2005. What so-called 80s units are affiliated with (KDP) and the 70s units with (PUK).
In 2014 Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists, held about 40 percent of Iraq’s soil, after they invaded. It ruled a large-scale territory until they were defeated in December 2017. It had lost most of its territory, and its biggest property, Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, after the U.S.-led collation forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters along with Iraqi military forces fought side by side.
Since ISIS’s failure, the western countries that managed to fight against ISIS in a joint alliance of (CJTFOIR) have intensified their efforts to unify the Peshmerga forces under one general commander.
In February 2018, the ministry of Peshmerga announced a 35-point plan to make the Peshmerga a more efficient, modern, and non-partisan fighting force, which was developed in consultation with advisors from the U.S., UK, and Germany.
The Peshmerga ministry’s reforms include the unification of its units that are not under the command of the official military institution as well as training for the forces.
