At the end of his term, Biden “disappointed” the Kurds and they are waiting for Trump’s policy
At the end of his term, Biden “disappointed” the Kurds and they are waiting for Trump’s policy
2025-01-15 04:45
Shafaq News/ A report published by the American magazine “Foreign Policy” indicated that the Kurds in the region feel “disappointed” with the performance of US President Joe Biden, with the end of his term and his imminent departure from the White House, indicating that his term, unlike what was the case when he assumed the position of Vice President and as a “senator”, was full of missed opportunities to support the Kurdish cause.
The magazine’s report, translated by Shafaq News Agency, said, “Many analysts expected that when Biden assumed the presidency in 2021, he would adopt an openly pro-Kurdish position as President of the United States, based on his experience as a senator and as Vice President, where he strengthened relations with Kurdish communities in the Middle East.”
“Now, as Biden’s presidency draws to a close, his record is disappointing, full of missed opportunities to support the Kurds and their causes,” he explains, noting that “American researchers had expected before the 2020 elections that Biden would be the most pro-Kurdish politician to enter the White House, which raised hopes among Kurds in several countries in the Middle East, the largest people in the world without a state, and that international support is vital to their national and political aspirations.”
The report stated that “researchers at the American Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Aykan Erdemir and Philip Kowalski, discussed Biden’s initial support for the Iraq War, which was supported by Kurdish leaders, as well as his controversial plans to promote federalism in Iraq, which would have granted more autonomy to Kurdistan, in addition to his long-standing relationship with Kurdish leaders such as leader Masoud Barzani.”
The report continued, “Biden had visited Erbil in 2002, before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, and spoke enthusiastically about the Kurds in a speech he gave to the Kurdistan Parliament. He also criticized the policies of former US President Donald Trump towards the Kurds, which led to speculation that he would be a supporter of Kurdish ambitions in northeastern Syria.”
He pointed out that “in 2017, the Trump administration opposed plans by the Kurds in Iraq to hold a referendum on independence and sent a warning message to Erbil, and in 2019, Trump gave the green light to the “Peace Spring” military operation launched by Turkey, which caused a major loss of Kurdish territory in Syria.”
“After four years, the estimates of Erdemir and Kowalski have not been realized, as domestic economic and political crises in the United States, along with other foreign policy concerns, such as competition with China and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, have distracted the Biden administration from the Kurds as core operations against ISIS have ended,” the report said.
The report pointed out that “Biden, throughout his career, had a long record of communicating with the Kurds of Iraq, especially in the Kurdistan Region, which gave the United States a center to attack Kirkuk and Mosul from the north during the 2003 war. Then the region was a major center for fighting ISIS, as thousands of soldiers from the international coalition forces to fight terrorism were stationed in the region.”
While the report said that the international coalition plans to reduce its forces by the end of 2026, and that Washington has promised to end its military presence in Iraqi bases, including the Kurdistan Region, it continued, “The Biden administration has begun to closely monitor the Kurdistan Regional Government, as it has found discouraging reports of the Kurdish parties’ failure to work together to implement a coherent governance program, organize elections on time, or protect freedom of expression, in addition to the Kurdish parties’ failure to make progress when it comes to depoliticizing and unifying the Peshmerga forces, despite their agreement to do so under a 2022 memorandum of understanding signed with the US Department of Defense.”
“As the situation in Iraq became more stable, Washington was directing its diplomatic energy away from Erbil and toward the federal government in Baghdad, after the chaos in central and southern Iraq had made the Kurdistan Region an attractive alternative to Baghdad, as the stable administration of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani allowed Washington to continue with long-awaited deals with Baghdad, especially regarding security,” he continued.
The report noted that “Kurdish leaders feared that the United States did not support them more in their disputes with the Iraqi federal government, as they wanted, for example, Washington to pressure Baghdad to resume oil exports through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, while Erbil was angered by American criticism of the human rights record in the Kurdistan Region as well.”
In addition, the report indicated that “the Kurdistan government had hoped that the United States would provide it with air defense systems during the Biden era, but this did not happen,” adding that “when the Prime Minister of the Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, visited Washington earlier this year, he was not allowed to meet Biden, while relations between Washington and Erbil slipped into an exchange of accusations.”
The report continued, “The 2022 Memorandum of Understanding between the Pentagon and the regional government will expire in 2026, without achieving most of the issues related to Peshmerga reform, which is the primary responsibility of the Kurdish parties,” expressing “disappointment that the great influence of the United States in this area was not effective, given the volume of military aid and training that Washington has provided to the Kurdistan Region over the past years.”
Kurds in Syria
The report noted that “the Biden administration opposed elections scheduled for Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria in September 2024, while the fall of the Assad regime raises urgent questions about how the Kurdish-led government and security forces in northeastern Syria will integrate with the new central government in Damascus.”
He continued, “During this lame duck phase of Biden’s term, Washington does not appear to be exerting much influence over the emerging structures in Syria, although about 2,000 American soldiers remain in Syria, while the fate of these forces has become increasingly fragile in the face of the new government in Damascus and the end of the international coalition’s mission to combat terrorism in Iraq.”
The report added that US President-elect Donald Trump’s bleak view of the US presence in Syria, and his admiration for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, may be an indication of the end of strong US support for the Syrian Kurds.
The report quoted Kurdish researcher Zozan Yashar as saying, “Policies such as reducing the US military presence in the region, which are on the agenda, mean that northeastern Syria may face more security problems in the future, and the situation does not seem sustainable.”
He pointed out that, “Ankara continues to oppose US support for the Syrian Kurdish authorities as part of the fight against ISIS, and its forces are launching attacks on northeastern Syria,” adding that “the prospects for peace talks between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party remain unclear, despite some optimism.”
Iran
The report stated that Biden’s policy has focused largely on the central government in Tehran, not on the Kurds in this country, although the exception came during the protests that erupted in late 2022, which followed the death of the young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, while in the custody of the morality police. It pointed out that although the Biden administration denounced the crackdown on the protesters, it did little to respond or expand its criticism to include the Kurdish population more broadly.
He explained that “the Kurdish-majority areas in Iran are among the poorest in the country and are severely affected by the economic effects of US sanctions, and the Kurdish minority faces harsh crackdowns by security forces because of its cultural, linguistic and political activity.
“Biden’s record may not match that of George W. Bush’s presidency, when the Kurds in Iraq achieved autonomy from Baghdad under a U.S.-imposed no-fly zone in 1992, then formalized under the new constitution in 2005,” the report concluded, adding that “the Kurds are now preparing for the return of Trump, whose record on Kurdish issues during his first term was turbulent.”
The report also quoted researcher Yasser as saying, “Trump’s return to power may mean that the Kurds will receive less support from the United States, and the situation of the Kurds may be more ambiguous.”
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