Security, energy top agenda of meeting between White House Coordinator McGurk with Iraqi and Kurdish officials

The White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, Brett McGurk, expressed support for the Iraqi government to make needed reforms in energy, infrastructure, and climate and urged Kurdish ruling parties in the Iraqi Kurdistan region to defuse their differences. 

McGurk, who arrived in Iraq late on Monday, has met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani, the president of the Kurdistan region Nechirvan Barzani, as well as senior officials from the two main Kurdish ruling parties in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.

According to a statement by the Iraqi government, Sudani and McGurk discussed Iraq-US relations and ways to develop them, as well as the thorny issue of the ongoing existence of the United States and other coalition forces in Iraq.

McGurk's visit to Baghdad coincided with a similar visit by Esmail Qaani, the commander of Quds Force - a division within Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) primarily responsible for extraterritorial military operations. 

Welcome to #Baghdad, PGII Special Presidential Coordinator @amoshochstein & WH Coordinator @brett_mcgurk. Met w/ PM @mohamedshia to advance our shared goals on trade, US investment, energy & gas capture. The 360-degree US-Iraq relationship in action – https://t.co/PAHvgtARTk.

— Ambassador Alina L. Romanowski (@USAmbIraq) January 16, 2023

"The Prime Minister affirmed the government's determination to enhance cooperation with friendly and brotherly countries that ensure the interests of the Iraqi people. His Excellency also highlighted the ability of our security forces to encounter terrorism and sustain the stability achieved thanks to the great sacrifices made in the land of Iraq," reads the statement by the Iraqi government.

"Mr McGurk affirmed his country's support to ensure the success of the Iraqi government and continue to provide advisory assistance to the Iraqi forces in their fight against ISIS, reiterating the US administration's commitment to the Strategic Framework Agreement and supporting the Iraqi government's reforms in the energy sector, infrastructure development, and combating climate change," it added. 

The US embassy in Baghdad, in a statement, wrote, "In the meeting, the US delegation confirmed President Biden's commitment to the Strategic Framework Agreement with special emphasis on coordination and programs to support the Government of Iraq's reforms in the areas of energy, infrastructure, and climate to benefit the Iraqi people. Mr McGurk affirmed the ongoing US commitment to advise, enable, and assist Iraqi forces in their fight against ISIS and to ensure that ISIS can never again regenerate in Iraq and Syria."

Today in Erbil, Bafel Jalal Talabani, President of PUK received a high level delegation of US diplomats headed by @brett_mcgurk. The latest political developments were discussed. Unification of efforts to better serve the people of KRI was emphasized during a productive meeting. pic.twitter.com/pueoj5MDX0

— Bafel Jalal Talabani (@Bafeltalabani) January 17, 2023

Sudani's words are seen as different from his previous statements when he defended the open-ended presence of US and other foreign troops in his country in an interview published Sunday. 

"We think that we need the foreign forces," Sudani told The Wall Street Journal in his first US interview since taking office. 

Sudani was elected Iraq's prime minister in October and was backed by the "Coalition for the Administration of the State," which includes the Coordination Framework, an alliance of powerful pro-Iran Shia factions with 138 out of 329 seats in parliament. The Coalition includes the main Sunni and Kurdish parties.

Heads of the Coordination Framework (CF), mainly former Iraqi PM and head of State of Law Coalition Nouri al-Maliki, recently had different views with Sudani on the issue of the existence of US forces in Iraq. Sudani vowed to continue to hold dialogue with the coalition forces to ensure their presence does not negatively impact Iraq's sovereignty and integrity. 

Received a U.S. government delegation headed by @brett_mcgurk where we discussed several topics including the relations between Baghdad and Erbil and our collective role in defeating ISIS terrorists. pic.twitter.com/WgR31mmkwY

— Masoud Barzani (@masoud_barzani) January 17, 2023

A senior member in the CF, speaking on condition of anonymity, told al-Araby al-Jadeed, The New Arab's Arabic-language sister publication, that Qaani met with the heads of the CF and Shia armed factions. Another member in the CF, also speaking on the condition of remaining unnamed, also raised concerns that following Qaani's visit pro-Iran Shia armed groups might resume attacks on US and coalition bases across the country. 

Karim Shukur, an Iraqi lawmaker and member of the security and defence committee in the Iraqi parliament, told TNA during a brief phone interview that the existence of the US and coalition forces in Iraq was necessary because the Iraqi security forces still face challenges from the Islamic State militants.

"According to Iraq's constitution, only the Iraqi parliament can decide whether foreign forces should remain or leave the country," Shukur stressed.

McGurk, on Tuesday in Erbil gas also met with the president of the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Masoud Barzani, the president of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Bafel Talabani, and the deputy prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Qubad Talabani. 

The KDP and the PUK mainly run the KRG but now are at odds with how to administrate crucial sectors in the region, particularly the oil and gas sector, on how to share ravenous from the border gates and holding fresh parliamentary elections.

Kurdish political observers, as well as media outlets, reported that McGurk tried to mediate between the two Kurdish parties to defuse their tensions and deal with their issues peacefully.

"The political conditions in Iraq and relations between Iraq and the Kurdistan region were discussed, where the need for resolving the issues between the Kurdistan region and Baghdad, and the key role of Iraq as well as the Kurdistan region in overcoming the obstacles in front of energy at the international level were emphasized during the meeting," Barzani headquarters said in a statement following the meeting with McGurk.

"Another topic of the meeting was the conditions in the Kurdistan region, where president Barzani reiterated that fair and pure parliamentary elections should be held in the Kurdistan region this year and no excuses are acceptable to postpone the elections," it added.  

"The latest political developments were discussed. Unification of efforts to better serve the people of KRI was emphasized during a productive meeting," Bafel Talabani tweeted after he met with McGurk.

On Sunday, Masrour Barzani, KRG's prime minister, accused the PUK of trying to obstruct upcoming parliamentary elections, stealing income from the border gates, and being behind the assassination of Hawkar Abdullah Rasoul, known as Hawkar Jaff, a former colonel in the ranks of PUK's Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG), who was killed in the capital city of Erbil on 7 October after a sticky bomb, attached to his vehicle, detonated. 

Jaff was supervising the CTG operations in Nineveh and was fired in the summer of 2021 due to an internal issue between cousins Bafel Talabani and Lahur Talabani - then co-leaders of PUK, as Jaff was a close ally to Lahur.

“We said from the beginning that we should have a joint committee, including the participation of third parties, to conduct a thorough investigation, but unfortunately, these demands have not been answered yet. They [PUK] want us to remain silent about the Hawkar assassination. These demands are unacceptable and do not serve our citizens," PM Barzani was quoted as saying by K24. 

On Monday, Qubad Talabani and PUK ministers boycotted a weekly session of the KRG council of ministers in Erbil. Furthermore, the party refuted all allegations against it and accused the KDP of depriving Sulaimaniyah and other provinces under the control of PUK of KRG revenues obtained from selling oil in the international markets.