Baghdad and Kurds urged to step back

Dispute in Iraq could offer stern test of US influence

WASHINGTON - After years of focusing divided Iraq on a shared fight against the Islamic State group, the United States is now straining to leverage its limited influence to avoid a full-blown conflict between the Iraqi and Kurdish forces it has armed and trained.

Experts say that a path toward reconciliation, in some form, exists. But it will be a long, arduous test of nerves that could expose the US-backed war effort in Iraq to risks from insurgents and from militia backed by neighboring Iran.

US President Donald Trump declared on Monday that the US was not taking sides in the internal conflict between Baghdad and independence-seeking Kurds, as Iraqi government forces captured the Kurdishheld oil city of Kirkuk and the town of Sinjar after Kurdish troops withdrew on Tuesday.

"We don't like the fact that they're clashing. We're not taking sides," Trump told reporters at the White House.

"We've had for many years a very good relationship with the Kurds as you know and we've also been on the side of Iraq."

US commanders in the region were active in trying to mediate between the two sides in the city, according to a report in the Guardian newspaper.

Pentagon spokesman Colonel Robert Manning said: "We have not seen levels of violences suggested in some of the media reports.

"This is certainly not helpful and again we encourage both sides to not fight each other."

He added: "Coalition leaders at all levels are engaging with their counterparts in the Iraq security forces to encourage dialogue and de-escalation."

However, the US approach met a cool reception from the Kurdish government representative in Washington, Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman. In particular, she said the US had already helped isolate the Kurds by publicly calling for them to postpone their contentious Sept 25 referendum on independence that triggered the dispute with Baghdad.

"With every step (Washington) emboldened Baghdad, Iran and Turkey... each one of them thinking: 'Well, so the Kurds are on their own, we can do whatever we like'," she said.

The Iraqi government's capture of Kirkuk was the most decisive step yet by Baghdad to block the Kurd's independence bid. It also put Washington in the awkward position of recognizing the Iraqi government's authority while maintaining ties with its close Kurdish allies.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces said Baghdad would be made to pay a heavy price for triggering "war on the Kurdistan people".

US-led coalition military support for Iraqi and Kurdish forces was decisive during the most critical phases of the war against Islamic State. But Washington's leverage has yet to be fully tested after the recapture of major cities from the militant group.

It is unclear, in particular, how much influence the US has with Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani after already failing to delay the independence referendum, in which the Kurds voted to secede.

Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, plans to make a statement on Tuesday urging the Kurdish factions to avoid civil war, Erbil-based Rudaw TV said.

Paul Salem, from the Middle East Institute think tank in Washington, said Barzani was learning that he had "very few friends and he is a much weaker player" than he thought before the Sept 25 vote.

Reuters - Ap

(China Daily 10/18/2017 page12)