After a century of betrayal, is it time for America to recognize Kurdistan as an “independent state”?

After a century of betrayal, is it time for America to recognize Kurdistan as an “independent state”?

2025-08-26 05:14

Shafaq News – Special Translation
The American newspaper ” The Hill ” called on the Washington government to support the establishment of a “Kurdish state” in northern Iraq, as a “morally justified and strategically necessary” step, stressing that what this state needs now is “a flag recognized beyond its mountains.”

The newspaper’s report, titled “For Kurdistan, Independence Is Now the Less Risky Option,” translated by Shafaq News Agency, stated that “US policymakers have long debated the Kurdish issue, reluctant to fully endorse independence for fear of backlash or regional instability. However, the facts on the ground have changed dramatically.”

He added, “The Kurds in Iraq have been subjected to brutal treatment for decades, including Saddam Hussein’s chemical attacks during the 1980s, and through systematic exclusion under subsequent regimes,” adding, “Despite the hopes raised by the 2005 Iraqi constitution, Baghdad has failed to deliver on the autonomy and equal rights promised to them.”

According to the report, the central government continues to fulfill its commitments and also threatens Kurdish autonomy through economic warfare, by withholding budget allocations and reducing the salaries of public employees in the region. For the United States, this represents a long-delayed opportunity to recognize a “trusted partner through an independent Kurdish state.”

“The issue has become moral and strategic,” the report said, adding that “the Kurds have suffered a century of betrayal. Targeted by Saddam with gas in the 1980s, protected by a US-led no-fly zone in the 1990s, and treated as power brokers after the 2003 invasion, they have watched successive Baghdad governments strip away their constitutional rights. Yet their response has been ballots, not bombs. In the 2017 referendum, 93% voted for independence, but Baghdad rejected the result.”

However, the report noted that “the voting results confirmed a simple fact: the Kurds have governed themselves for more than 25 years, and have done so far more efficiently than the federal state that claims to control them.”

He also explained that “strategically, Kurdistan was America’s most reliable ally between the Mediterranean Sea and the Zagros Mountains,” pointing to the ISIS invasion in 2014 and the Kurdish fighters’ holding their ground “while the Iraqi army withered and fled,” according to the American report.

The report also noted that the Kurdistan Region has sheltered nearly two million displaced Arabs, Yazidis, and Christians, and has hosted them with tolerance that puts many regional governments to shame. It added that the region today is peaceful enough to host consulates, international schools, and energy companies, and is an oasis of stability bordered by multiple countries at war with themselves.

“Although critics say such independence would set the region on fire,” the report notes, “the story is different,” noting that Turkey, Iraq’s largest trading partner, sells more to Kurdistan than to all of federal Iraq. Even Iran, despite publicly opposing Kurdish independence, has quietly benefited from cross-border trade, the report notes.

The report states, “The current situation demonstrates that there is a de facto state, and therefore formalizing it would align national borders with the reality on the ground,” describing salaries in Kurdistan as “the new insult.”

He pointed out that it is ironic that while Baghdad claims to be financially exhausted, billions are flowing freely into corrupt hands, as evidenced by reports indicating massive revenue losses through customs corruption. Baghdad also continues to fund groups allied with terrorism and distributes pensions to individuals convicted of terrorist crimes, indicating that “supporting Kurdish independence would be consistent with American tradition.”

The report stated that Washington has often sided, from Latin America in the 19th century to Eastern Europe after World War I and Africa and Asia after World War II, with countries seeking self-determination when it aligns with its core interests. It noted that Kurdistan ticks all the boxes: it is pro-American, pluralistic, energy-rich, and decisively prepared to shoulder its security burden.

He concluded by saying, “Conditions in Iraq have changed dramatically today from those that previously prevented the United States from supporting Kurdish independence,” noting that “during the first Trump administration, concerns about instability and the resurgence of ISIS led Washington to hesitate. However, ISIS, while not completely eliminated, no longer poses the existential threat it once did.”

The report concluded by saying, “The time has come for the United States to say out loud what the reality on the ground has already written: Kurdistan is a nation, and all it needs is a flag recognized beyond its mountains, and America must be the first to raise it.”

shafaq.com