As US considers cutting funds from Kurdish forces, concerns rise over stability in Middle East

The Peshmerga have played a key role over the years fighting ISIS and securing the autonomous Kurdistan Region. However, efforts to reform them have not proceeded as planned.

The Trump administration is planning to cut funding to the Peshmerga, the armed forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government, according to a BBC report that called the Peshmerga "a key Middle East ally that helped the US defeat the Islamic State group (IS) and is now facing punishing attacks from Iran, according to four sources familiar with the matter."

Kurdish media Rudaw said Washington had not informed the Peshmerga of a plan to cut funding. 

Discussions and concerns about the US reducing funding for the Peshmerga have been key issues for years. The Peshmerga have played a key role over the years fighting ISIS and securing the autonomous Kurdistan Region. However, efforts to reform them have not proceeded as planned. In addition, the US is withdrawing from Iraq on September 30.

A bit of history helps explain the issues involved.

The Kurdish Peshmerga have been an important military force in the Middle East in the last decade. The Peshmerga date back to the Kurdish national movement of the twentieth century. Following the establishment of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War, the Peshmerga became the region's official security force. However, the force remained divided between the two dominant Kurdish political parties: the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), whose military formation became known as Division (or Unit) 80, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), whose forces were organized as Division (or Unit) 70. This division complicated command and control despite cooperation against common threats.

US expands military assistance after Kurdish forces halts ISIS advance

The rise of ISIS in 2014 highlighted both the strengths and challenges facing the Peshmerga. Kurdish forces played a decisive role in halting ISIS's advance, defending Erbil, protecting displaced civilians, and later participating in the campaigns to liberate Sinjar, Kirkuk, and areas surrounding Mosul.

Their battlefield performance led the United States and the Global Coalition to significantly expand military assistance, training, and equipment programs. There had been an effort to reform the forces before 2014. The concept was to move them away from party affiliation toward a neutral Peshmerga ministry. The ISIS war and the 2017 Kurdistan Independence referendum delayed this effort.

A central component of that effort by the international community to support the Peshmerga has been the Kurdistan Training Coordination Center (KTCC) in Erbil. Established by coalition partners during Operation Inherent Resolve, the KTCC has coordinated multinational training programs, standardized instruction, and helped professionalize Kurdish units. Coalition members have trained thousands of Peshmerga soldiers in infantry tactics, staff planning, leadership, logistics, and specialized military skills while also advising the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs on broader institutional reform.

I witnessed this firsthand on visits to the region. The training was paying off. The Peshmerga Ministry was trying to modernize.

However, the region faces many crises. Baghdad has sought to weaken the region economically. There have been threats from Iran and Iranian-backed militias. Turkey has also operated in areas near the border. The KDP and PUK can’t get along in the regional parliament. Everything is on hold due to local political squabbles. The result is that international support is sometimes either taken for granted or not leveraged to its full potential.

BBC wrote that “the US Department of Defense has told leaders of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in recent meetings that the administration is not planning to renew an expiring agreement that provides security assistance to the Peshmerga, the Kurdish security force.”

Funding cut may embolden Iran

The report notes that “Kurdish officials fear the funding cut would create a power vacuum and embolden Iran, which has fired hundreds of missiles and drones into Iraqi Kurdistan since US President Donald Trump started the war with Tehran.” Yerevan Saeed, the director of the Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace at American University, told the BBC that "the US would be cutting off the Kurds, who shed so much blood to help the Americans achieve their goals in Iraq and the wider Middle East…This is going to be a big win for Iran, China, and Russia if the Kurds are left so exposed."

The report added that the Peshmerga has around 180,000 troops in Iraqi Kurdistan and they “received $61m (£45m) in the fiscal year 2026 for weapons, military training and stipends through the Pentagon's counter-IS program.”

For such a large force, this isn’t a lot of funds. However, the US is dealing with many issues in the region. It is trying to deal with Gaza and Lebanon and the war with Iran.

BBC notes that “the Pentagon signed the initial memorandum of understanding giving military assistance to the Peshmerga in 2016 and renewed it in 2022. A final decision on security engagement between the US and Kurdistan is still being reviewed, according to one source familiar with the Pentagon's thinking. The US is considering ways to maintain some security support in both Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan after the troop withdrawal, the sources said.”

According to Kurdish media outlet Rudaw, “Washington has not officially informed the Kurdistan Region's Peshmerga ministry of plans to halt financial assistance as a security agreement nears expiry, three informed sources told Rudaw on Saturday, after the BBC reported that the United States had told Erbil the deal would not be renewed.” The report noted that "regarding the termination of the aid, the US has told the Ministry of Peshmerga nothing officially," a senior ministry official told Rudaw’s Soran Hussein on Saturday.