US Financial Support for Peshmerga Arrives in Baghdad


September 4, 2016


The Fund will be used to pay Peshmerga salaries, Kurdish official says

The US financial support for the Peshmerga forces of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has arrived in Baghdad, confirmed a senior Peshmerga official.

“As part of the previously-signed MoU between Erbil and Washington, the money of Peshmerga has arrived in a private bank in Baghdad,” Jamal Mohammed, the Peshmerga’s Chief of Staff, told BasNews on Saturday.

Without revealing the amount, Mohammed pointed out that the US financial support will be used to pay Peshmerga salaries but “it cannot meet the need to pay all the Peshmerga forces”.

Earlier on July 12, KRG’s Peshmerga Ministry and US Department of Defense signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) through which Washington will pay part of the Peshmerga salaries and provides them with military supplies.

Kurdish officials hope the approach will secure more US military and financial aid to the Peshmerga as they are effectively fighting the Islamic State on the forefront of the battlefield.

Due to the costly war on IS and sinking oil prices, KRG is now suffering from a severe financial crisis which has caused delays in the public servants’ salaries.


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