The two met and talked about increasing trade and security cooperation.īaranzi even praised Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian general killed by the US in Iraq last year. He also emphasized that the Kurds are part of Iran, and the Islamic revolution, according to a statement from Iran’s president.
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Last month, Kurdish President Barzani traveled to Iran for the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Ebrahim Raisi. Related: Chaos in Afghanistan creates power vacuum for ISIS, al-Qaeda So if you were an Iraqi, who would you want to be an ally?” Osman said. “America - one day it’s in, one day out, one day it's fighting force, the other it’s advisers and trainers. So if you were an Iraqi, who would you want to be an ally?” Hiwa Osman, Kurdish analyst and former adviser to Iraqi president “America - one day it’s in, one day out, one day it's fighting force, the other it’s advisers and trainers. Hiwa Osman, a Kurdish analyst and former adviser to Iraq’s president, said that with the US withdrawal from Iraq, better relations with Iran are now crucial. “And this is not in the interest of Iraq,” Bakir said. However, he predicts a struggle for influence among regional powers. Related: The Kurdish press in Turkey walk a fine lineīakir doesn’t think the US will abandon the Kurds of Iraq. In both countries, the US installed a theoretically democratic government and spent billions of dollars training and equipping their armies.īut when ISIS made its rampage across Iraq in 2014, thousands of Iraqi troops fled, tossing their uniforms and leaving their US weapons to ISIS.
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“Yes, we are watching what’s happening in Afghanistan, but we are hoping that the situation in the two countries are different,” said Falah Mustafa Bakir, a senior foreign policy adviser to Nechirvan Barzani, president of the Kurdistan region of Iraq.Īlthough the two countries are different, Iraq and Afghanistan share a few similarities - the US invaded both countries after 9/11. “Yes, we are watching what’s happening in Afghanistan, but we are hoping that the situation in the two countries are different." Falah Mustafa Bakir, senior foreign policy adviser to Nechirvan Barzani, president of Kurdistan region of Iraq