The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraqi-Kurdistan announced that its Peshmerga forces had completed unification. The goal of this unification process was to eliminate the role of the political parties within Peshmerga units. Now all the units of the Peshmerga forces are under the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs (MOPA); most notably, Units 70 and 80 have been unified, which together have around 100,000 troops. Unit 70 was affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and Unit 80 with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). This much-awaited announcement comes as US forces that are part of the anti-Islamic State coalition are leaving Iraq, and the Iraqi government is aiming to rein in and disarm armed groups in Iraq. On the surface, it may look like a military and organizational project to create a unified structure of the Peshmergas, but in its deeper layers, it is interwoven with one of the region’s oldest geopolitical issues, namely the relationship among the political parties, the regional government, Baghdad, and foreign powers.

The unification of all the units is a critical component of the Peshmerga forces’ comprehensive reform process. Under the new organization, the Peshmerga forces have been arranged into 11 military divisions, including two support forces, one commando unit, and two military regional commands. With the completion of this unification, the path has........

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