TASK FORCE REPORT
STATE-BUILDING IN IRAQI KURDISTAN
Nancy E. Soderberg
David L. Phillips, Director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights
Institute for the Study of Human Rights Columbia University
2015
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Crises in the Middle East—ISIS, Syria’s civil war, the flood of refugees—con-sume the attention of policymakers. One area that deserves more analysis and attention is the incipient independence of Iraqi Kurdistan.
The collapse of the Iraqi army and the ease with which ISIS seized Sunni areas of Iraq is a wake-up call to observers and policymakers: a unified Iraq is no longer a reality. Policies must be adapted to reflect events on the ground. Yet, the international community clings to the idea of a unified Iraq. This view is most prominent in the United States, which has invested trillions of dollars and more than a decade of training, and suffered the loss of so many soldiers.
The state structures envisioned by the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 are falling apart. New thinking is required for stability in the region.
Iraqi Kurds have been building a de facto independent state since 1991 In the twelve years since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the Iraqi Kurds have sought to work with the central government in Baghdad. With Iraq’s collapse, they will no longer do so. We do not yet know how and when they will seek de jure independence, but it is not in the interests of the international community to block the legitimate aspirations of the Kurds for self-determination. Rather, the international community should work with the Kurdistan Regional Gov- ernment, Baghdad, and the concerned countries to ensure that the process is consultative, democratic, responsible, and stable.