The 2016 US–KRG memorandum organised assistance to Peshmerga fighting ISIS. Its 2022 renewal connected support to institutional reform within Iraq’s security framework. Dated records help distinguish funding, reform promises and later official assessments.

A helmeted Peshmerga soldier wearing a protective mask handles an M16 rifle and magazine on an outdoor training range, with other soldiers behind
Training at Bnaslawa, 21 September 2016: a Peshmerga soldier during a protective-defence class taught by Italian trainers. U.S. Army photograph by Sgt. Lisa Soy, public domain. This shows training, not the memorandum’s signing. [7] U.S. Army / Sgt. Lisa Soy · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain. The appearance of U.S. Department of War (DoW) visual information does not imply or constitute DoW endorsement.

What the 2016 arrangement covered

The Congressional Research Service’s December 2016 account places the July memorandum within the campaign against ISIS and the Kurdistan Regional Government’s financial difficulties. It says the United States and KRG signed with Baghdad’s approval, governing assistance announced that April. The package exceeded $400 million and helped sustain Peshmerga through salary and food support. [1] This was a practical arrangement for a particular force and mission. Describing it as an agreement with all Kurdish people obscures the actual institutions involved.

Baghdad and the limits of the partnership

The same CRS report explains that US assistance to security forces in Iraq was coordinated with or channelled through the national government. It also distinguishes congressional authorities allowing direct assistance in specified circumstances from the way assistance was being delivered. [1] The 2022 joint renewal statement explicitly describes the Peshmerga as a component of Iraqi security forces and places cooperation within Iraq’s constitutional framework. [2] These records do not support treating the memorandum as recognition of an independent Kurdish state or an unconditional mutual-defence guarantee.

The renewal signed in September 2022

On 21 September 2022, Celeste Wallander, US assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, and Shoresh Ismail Abdulla, KRG minister of Peshmerga affairs, signed the renewed memorandum. Its public joint statement links continued defeat-ISIS support to further professionalisation and institutional reforms. [2] A separate Defense Department account describes mutually agreed parameters for the next four years. [3] A four-year organising framework should not be presented as a permanent alliance, nor does a public announcement establish every provision of the underlying document.

How progress was meant to be assessed

The inaugural Peshmerga Executive Steering Committee met in Erbil on 29 January 2024. Its joint statement says the participants assessed reform objectives under the 2022 memorandum and agreed milestones for the following year, with unification under the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs as a central goal. [4] Later that year, the Lead Inspector General report identified unfinished items, including senior KRG approval of reorganisation plans and financial arrangements. [5] These are dated assessments: a reform commitment, an approved plan and implementation are different stages.

The ministry’s September 2026 announcement

In a statement dated 10 September 2026, published the following day, Minister Shoresh Ismail announced that unification and reorganisation of the 70 and 80 Forces under the ministry had been completed. He described brigades, divisions and regional commands within unified command and control, and said both military area commands were assuming duties. [6] This is the ministry’s own account of achievement, not an independent audit of every unit’s operational behaviour or party influence. It documents a later claimed milestone without making the earlier delays disappear.

Why the memorandum matters historically

The memorandum made support and reform subjects of named institutional agreements and subsequent review. The documented sequence—2016 assistance, 2022 renewal, 2024 assessment and the ministry’s 2026 announcement—offers a clearer account than claims of unprecedented or irreversible recognition. It also preserves a distinction between supporting Peshmerga operations against ISIS, changing command and financial systems, and making wider political or territorial commitments. None of the dated sources cited here establishes an unlimited guarantee of future funding or a new post-2026 renewal.

Sources and further reading

  1. Congressional Research Service, Kurds in Iraq and Syria: U.S. Partners Against the Islamic State, R44513, 28 December 2016, pp. 5–8; assistance and Iraqi-government approval.
  2. U.S. Department of Defense and Kurdistan Regional Government, joint statement on renewal of the memorandum, 21 September 2022; signatories, mission and reform commitments.
  3. Jim Garamone, DOD, Kurdish Peshmerga Continue Partnership to Fight ISIS, DOD News, 27 September 2022; four-year parameters.
  4. U.S. Department of Defense and Kurdistan Region Presidency, joint statement on the inaugural Peshmerga Executive Steering Committee, 30 January 2024; unedited official release distributed by Public Technologies.
  5. Lead Inspector General, Operation Inherent Resolve, quarterly report to Congress, 1 July–30 September 2024, p. 23; outstanding reform milestones.
  6. Shoresh Ismail, MoPA Announces Completion of Peshmerga Unification and Reorganisation, statement dated 10 September 2026, published 11 September 2026.
  7. U.S. Army Sgt. Lisa Soy, Peshmerga soldier training in Bnaslawa, 21 September 2016, Wikimedia Commons; public domain U.S. military photograph.