US encouraging KRG to proclaim independence: US think tank

“Not since the second decade of the 20th century has the Kurdish dream of independence appeared so attainable,” American Enterprise Institute (AEI) researcher Michael Rubin wrote in an article published on May 10.
 
Rubin referred to the KRG’s oil revenues following the downfall of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the Democratic Union Party's growing domination over much of Syrian Kurdistan amid the foreign-fueled crisis in the country, and Turkey’s recent peace deal with Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) as major factors paving the way for the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan.
 
He also recalled how US Vice President Joseph Biden, while still a Senator, famously proposed and supported a plan to split up Iraq into three Sunni, Shia and Kurdish-run regions.
 
The author stated that given such a background, Iraqi Kurdish leaders expect many former US officials -- “who are heavily invested in Kurdish oil” -- to take side with the KRG in its disputes with Baghdad.
 
The article attributed Washington’s nonchalance to officially support the breakaway of the already autonomous Kurdish region to the KRG’s failure to put Kurdish statehood before internal issues and family relations.
 
It also advised the KRG to appoint a charismatic and able representative to head the Kurds’ Washington office and warned against implications that President Masud Barzani is indispensible and might stay in office beyond a legal two-term limit.
 
Rubin suggested that a transfer of power in Arbil could demonstrate that “Kurdistan is rich not only in oil resources, but also in human capital,” and convince the US and other Western powers that Kurdistan is ready for statehood.