The reasons for favoring Kurdish independence

Jonathon Tobin:
For months, the Trump administration has been coping with a huge problem to which it has no solution.

Iran has been the big winner of the conflicts in Iraq and Syria. Its intervention in the Syrian civil war and influence over its Shia allies in Iraq has enabled it to acquire a land bridge to Lebanon, which is dominated by its Hezbollah auxiliaries.

The implications for this strategic coup for US interests and any hope for Middle East peace are enormous but the administration doesn’t seem to have a clue about what to do about it.

Yet at least a partial answer to this dilemma is at hand in the form of a referendum to be held this month on independence for Iraqi Kurdistan. Kurdish independence could create a state that would act as a firewall against Iran’s quest for regional hegemony.

So why has the US been going all out to stop the Kurds from voting? On Friday, a White House statement flatly demanded the referendum be called off.

It boils down to a fear that Kurdish independence would be a distraction from the war on ISIS. The Kurdish Peshmerga troops have been the most effective land force in the Western-led push to destroy the Islamic State.

That fight is finally succeeding. But since Turkey, Iran and especially the government of Iraq bitterly oppose Kurdish independence, the US has treated the referendum as a threat to a successful conclusion to the campaign against the terrorists.

That’s why Secretary of Defense James Mattis has asked the Kurds to delay their vote for independence. Other US officials are also working to pressure them to once again put off their hopes.

If ISIS was the only threat to US interests in the region, that would make sense. But as Trump knows, Iran’s growing strength is just as dangerous, if not more so.
...
A policy switch that encourages the Kurds could throw a monkey wrench into Iran’s plans to use its clients in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the Hamas state in Gaza to create a sphere of influence that endangers America’s Arab allies and threatens Israel with a three-front war at any time of Iran’s choosing.
...
There is more.

The Kurds are the most sane of the players mentioned and they have also been the best ally in the war against ISIS.  Stopping Iranian expansion needs to be a top priority and the Kurds would also be the best ally for doing that.  Turkey will not like it, but the Erdogan government has lost legitimacy as well as lost the confidence of its former allies.  If Turkey had acted responsibly, ISIS would have never gained the foothold it had and there would have been no need for th Kurds to be fighting them.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

29 % of companies say they are unlikely to keep insurance after Obamacare

Bin Laden's concern about Zarqawi's remains