Political Instability on Horizon in Iraqi Kurdistan?

Michael Rubin

Iraqi Kurdistan may no longer be the bastion of stability which its lobbyists say it is. Over the weekend, five senior members of Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan—including the former prime minister—reportedly resigned. There have also been resignations in Qubad Talabani’s office in Washington. According to the independent Kurdish newspaper Hawlati (whose editor Jalal Talabani and his son Qubad have sought to jail), Jalal Talabani has ordered 3,800 members of the Kurdish peshmerga militia who are providing security in Baghdad back to Sulaymani in case of trouble.

Meanwhile, KurdishMedia.com reports that, in another sign of declining confidence in Iraqi Kurdistan, KDP leader Masud Barzani’s son Masrour Barzani has been trying to pull strings to gain U.S. citizenship, presenting a test for the Obama administration, which would have to waive disqualifying factors involving Masrour’s connection, according to the Austrian police and several human rights agencies, in questionable human rights practices.

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