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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Strong cooperation between Erbil and Baghdad to resolve long-standing issues is “absolutely critical” to achieving US objectives in the Middle East, a former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs told Rudaw.
"I would expect to see continued pressure from the new administration [of US President Donald Trump] on both parties [Erbil and Baghdad] to come to some sort of agreement that ensures the payment of salaries [for public sector workers in the Kurdistan Region]," Jennifer Gavito told Rudaw’s Shaho Amin on Wednesday.
For over a decade, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has faced challenges in paying civil servants on time and in full. In recent months, public sector employees in the Kurdistan Region have held protests, demanding reimbursement for months of unpaid wages.
The unpaid salaries crisis in the Kurdistan Region was additionally aggravated over the last two years by the suspension of Kurdish oil exports in March 2023. This followed a ruling by a Paris-based arbitration court in favor of Baghdad, which stated that Ankara violated a 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing Erbil to independently export oil starting in 2014.
Gavito, who is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, emphasized to Rudaw that the consecutive US governments, whether led by the Democrats or the Republicans, have consistently stressed the importance of fostering a "strong relationship" between Erbil and Baghdad.
Commenting on the continued stalemate regarding the resumption of Kurdish oil exports, Gavito said that this has “really acted as a disincentive” for the US and other international oil companies (IOCs), highlighting the need for “a sustainable way forward” between Baghdad and Erbil as “absolutely critical to US objectives in the region.”
The Iraqi parliament in early February passed amendments to the federal budget law, authorizing a $16 per barrel production and transport fee for IOCs operating in the Kurdistan Region. The move is seen as crucial to restarting oil exports.
Nevertheless, despite US pressure, negotiations between Iraqi and Kurdish officials, as well as IOCs, have yet to yield concrete results. While IOCs demand payment guarantees and contractual security, Baghdad insists on federal oversight, and Erbil seeks a resolution that safeguards its economic interests.
In a different vein, the former US State Department official congratulated Syria’s new leadership and the Kurdish led-Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for inking a landmark deal on Monday to integrate all civil and military institutions in northeast Syria (Rojava) into the administration of the Syrian state.
A statement from the Syrian presidency said on Monday that “the Kurdish community is indigenous to the Syrian state, which ensures this community’s right to citizenship and all of its constitutional rights.”
Gavito pointed out that “there is still much work to be done” to uphold the deal. She noted the “tremendous opportunities in Syria at the moment” and the SDF’s initiative to make use of these opportunities to “stabilize Syria in a way that it helps stabilize the entire Middle East.”
A coalition of rebel groups, led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), on December 8 toppled the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
The US - in the aftermath of Assad’s fall - upped its presence in Syria, increasing its troops from 900 to around 2,000. These forces are deployed in regions mainly controlled by the SDF and constitute the primary backers of the Kurdish-led group.
Despite this, reports have circulated that US President Trump is considering withdrawing American forces from Syria.
Former United States Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker told Rudaw in late February that Trump views these forces as part of “forever wars,” which he vowed to end during his electoral campaign.
For her part, Gavito on Wednesday said that Washington’s cooperation with the SDF has yielded “extraordinary gains” in the global fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) and warned of the group’s resurgence in both Syria and Iraq.
“The fight [against ISIS] is not over,” she stressed, adding, “I do hope that the Trump administration takes a bit of time to assess where the fight against ISIS is and how it can be sustained, especially if they do move forward with pulling troops out,” she concluded.
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