Abadi Wins ISIS War, Maliki Wins Elections: Time for US to Shift Policy on Kurdistan by Osamah Golpy - Rudaw
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was very clear when he said last week that the US will not recognize, neither support the Kurdish independence referendum despite the seismic vote by the people of Kurdistan. He said that the US is for the a united Iraq, an indication that the Trump administration, like its predecessors, will continue the One Iraq policy, something that has been tried time and again, but always with the same result.
The main argument against the Kurdish vote, from the US perspective, is that the vote will undo the gains made against ISIS, and that it weakens the chances of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi of winning a second term in office, someone seen as a moderate voice in an otherwise coalition of Shiite hardliners headed by Vice President Nouri al-Maliki…