Masrour Barzani Chancellor of Kurdistan Security Council meets senior Pentagon official

Masrour Barzani, Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC), met in Washington on Friday with John Rood, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, the number three position in the Defense Department.

The meeting—the most senior-level engagement between an official of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and a Pentagon official in nearly a year—reflects the changing nature of the war against the Islamic State (IS.)

As IS has been driven out of the territory it once controlled, it has gone underground, and “the fight against the terrorist organization has become more of an intelligence operation,” Paul Davis, a former Pentagon analyst, now a Senior Fellow at Soran University, told Kurdistan 24.

Or, as others put it more informally, “IS has gone into al Qaida mode.”

In addition, security has deteriorated since last October, particularly in the disputed territories, after Iraqi forces attacked the Peshmerga in Kirkuk, in a military operation organized by Iran.

“We’re already seeing metrics and indicators that [IS] is back,” Michael Pregent, an advisor to Generals David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno during Operation Iraqi Freedom, and now with the Hudson Institute, explained at a seminar on Friday.

Pregent also noted that the Kurds were far more effective in maintaining security in Kirkuk than the Iraqis have proven to be. The Iraqi Security Forces, including the Popular Mobilization Forces, are there, Pregent said, but “they’re not able to secure it.”

IS’ transforming itself into al Qaida mode and IS’ resurgence are “two big reasons” why Rood would be seeing Barzani now, Davis suggested.

In his meeting with Rood, Barzani thanked the US for supporting the Peshmerga in the fight against IS, as they discussed the “continuing battle” against the terrorist organization and other such groups, including “the changing nature of the fight, which requires military and intelligence resources.”

Barzani also “spoke at length about specific measures the US and the Global Coalition can support to organize and strengthen the Peshmerga forces.”