Pentagon to Cut Peshmerga Aid as US Withdraws From Iraq
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- The Pentagon has informed Kurdish Regional Government leaders in recent meetings that it will not extend its memorandum of understanding funding the Peshmerga — a deal that expires 30 September, the same day US and coalition forces complete their withdrawal from Iraq.
- The Peshmerga, roughly 180,000 Kurdish troops, received $61m in fiscal year 2026 for weapons, training, and stipends through the Pentagon's counter-ISIS program; the Pentagon proposed eliminating all of it in its FY2027 budget request, citing ISIS's defeat.
- Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones into Iraqi Kurdistan since Trump launched his war with Tehran, with 158 attacks recorded by late May according to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies' latest available data.
- The US opened what was billed as its largest consulate in the world — an $800m complex in Irbil — in December, even as the sole remaining US military base in the Iraqi Kurdish capital prepares to close next month with the troop pullout.
- Analysts and former officials warned the aid cut creates a power vacuum and emboldens Iran, with ex-ambassador James Jeffrey — who ran the anti-ISIS coalition in Trump's first term — saying abandoning the Peshmerga echoes the 2014 mistake that allowed ISIS to rise.
- Tom Barrack, Trump's ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Iraq and Syria, has been the principal US voice in recent talks that also explored a possible bilateral defense agreement with Baghdad, though Kurdistan's role remains undefined.
Why it matters: The Pentagon is ending a $61m annual program that armed 180,000 Peshmerga fighters credited with helping defeat ISIS, just as Iran steps up strikes on Iraqi Kurdistan (158 missile and drone attacks by late May) and the last US base in Irbil prepares to close — leaving a frontline anti-Iran partner with no American security backstop.
Ask SkimNews
