SULAYMANIYAH — The United States has reduced the amount that it spends per month on stipends to pay the salaries of peshmerga forces from $20 million to $15 million, according to peshmerga officials. The reduction comes amid internal political tensions between the ruling parties in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region that have hampered the peshmerga reform process.
The stipends are used to subsidize the salaries of approximately 54,000 peshmerga serving in units commanded by the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs (MoPA). A further 100,00 peshmerga serve in units directly controlled by either the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) or the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
The cut took effect in October 2023 according to the memorandum of understanding signed between the United States and the KRG, the MoPA’s press office told Al-Monitor. The reduction has not been publicly acknowledged until now.
“We have made every effort to reorganize administrative affairs and eliminate corruption and waste in the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs. Our main goal is to consolidate and reorganize the peshmerga forces within the framework of the reform process,” the MoPA press office said.
