As calls for disbanding Iraq's PMU rise, its influence expands
The voices of Iraq's Western allies are rising against the Popular Mobilization Units, demanding the dissolution of these forces, while the PMU is expanding its influence in the Iraqi state, making Prime Minister Haider al-Abbadi face tough choices.
While the Iraqis' Western allies fighting the Islamic State (IS) are demanding that the Iraqi government dissolve the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), the PMU factions are expanding their influence in the Iraqi state.
In his meeting with Iraqi Kurdistan Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani on Dec. 2, French President Emmanuel Macron called on the Iraqi government to dismantle all militias, including the PMU. Macron said, “It is essential that there is gradual demilitarization, in particular of the PMU that established itself in the last few years in Iraq, and that all militias be gradually dismantled.”
