Kurdish president warns Iraq's unity not guaranteed

Washington, May 7: President of the autonomous Iraqi province of Kurdistan, Masoud Barzani, has warned Washington that the unity of Iraq is “voluntary and not compulsory” after the White House insisted on the need for a united Iraq to counter jihadis.

Barzani met US President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in Washington on Wednesday to ask for more weapons for the fight against the Islamic State (IS) and more humanitarian aid for the million-and-a-half refugees who have fled to Kurdistan from elsewhere in Iraq and Syria, Efe news agency reported.

“We believe that we have a humanitarian as well as a tiol responsibility,” Barzani told a conference at the Atlantic Council in Washington shortly after meeting Obama and Biden. “But, of course, the burden is huge and we cannot afford it alone,” he added. Barzani, the commander-in-chief of the Kurdish troops or Peshmerga fighting the IS, warned that the unity of the Kurdistan region with the rest of Iraq was voluntary despite White House pressure for a greater tiol cohesion. (IANS)