The Trump administration is planning to stop or sharply reduce US military assistance to the Peshmerga, the Kurdish forces in Iraq, according to four sources familiar with internal discussions.

The US Department of Defense has told leaders in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in recent meetings that it is not preparing to renew an expiring arrangement that supports the Peshmerga with security assistance, the sources said. The talks have not previously been reported.

Representatives from the BBC, speaking to two officials who attended the meetings and two other people briefed on the matter, described discussions on condition of anonymity.

Funding Deal set to Expire on 30 September

A memorandum of understanding between the Pentagon and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is due to end on 30 September. That date coincides with the day the US and other countries plan to withdraw their remaining troops from Iraq.

The troop withdrawals will formally end the international campaign against Islamic State (IS). The Peshmerga fought alongside coalition forces during the campaign to strip IS of territory in parts of Iraq and Syria.

The last remaining US military base in Iraq is at Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish region, and is scheduled to close after coalition troops leave next month.

The Pentagon and the KRG originally signed the memorandum in 2016, and renewed it in 2022. One source said a final decision on the scope of US security engagement with Kurdistan is still under review.

Kurdish Officials Warn of Wider Security Risks

Kurdish officials fear the funding cut could create a security vacuum in the region and strengthen Iran’s influence, particularly at a time when Tehran has been escalating attacks on Iraqi Kurdistan.

Since President Donald Trump began the war with Iran, Iran has launched hundreds of missiles and drones into Iraqi Kurdistan, according to the article’s sources and data cited from a Washington think tank. A separate research compilation by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies counted 158 missile or drone attacks inside Iraqi Kurdistan by late May, carried out by Iran and Iranian-backed militias.

Analysts quoted in the reporting said ending Peshmerga support would undermine a long-standing partner and send a signal that the US could not reliably back allies in the region.

Officials in both Iraq’s Kurdish region and Washington have also raised concerns about how any transition in US involvement would affect the ability of Kurdish forces to defend territory after the US drawdown.

Pentagon Budget Proposal, Congress and an Internal Review

The Peshmerga, which numbers about 180,000 troops in Iraqi Kurdistan, received $61 million in fiscal year 2026 for weapons, military training and stipends through the Pentagon’s counter-IS programme.

In a fiscal year 2027 budget request, the Pentagon proposed cutting security assistance for the Peshmerga entirely on the grounds that IS has been defeated and the funds should be reassigned. That spending plan has not yet been implemented because it is on hold amid a wider budget dispute in the US Congress.

While the proposal alarmed officials in Iraqi Kurdistan, some had expected an extension through a deal due to expire in September.

Despite the scale of Iran-related attacks on the KRG, multiple sources said defence department officials told Iraqi and Kurdish leaders in recent meetings that the US was not planning to extend the memorandum.

The sources also said the US is looking at ways to retain some security support for both Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan after the troop withdrawal.

State Department and KRG Declined to Comment

The KRG and the US State Department declined to comment on the discussions. The Pentagon referred questions to a statement summarising Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in July, which said Iraqi security forces, including the Peshmerga and other Kurdish-region forces, would lead the fight against terrorists in Iraq following coalition success against IS.

The Kurdish security discussions were linked to broader negotiations between the US, Baghdad and the KRG over the timing and terms of the troop withdrawal. The departure date was set under a 2024 agreement between Washington and Baghdad to withdraw US troops remaining in Iraq that had been deployed after IS surged in 2014, following the 2011 withdrawal of American combat troops.

The administration has said it is open to a bilateral security agreement with Iraq, and the sources said the two sides discussed a possible defence pact, though the shape of any agreement and the role of Iraqi Kurdistan remain unclear.

Join the discussion?

29 August 2026

View full article

Such a constant and firm ally, Epstein files or not.

Cutting aid to Israel would be a better option.

How about cutting military equipment to a country that has no mutual defense agreement with America 🎯

If they won't come to defend America, why should we fund their shenanigans

Another step on the way out of the quagmire that the Middle East has become.

Yet again the Kurds are abandoned to their fate.

This would be very typical of Trump, reward dictators and punish allies. The Kurds were very helpful to the US during the Iraq War as were the Afghans, so what did America do?

We abandoned them Trump style, that's what we did. This man does not have one nanogram of decency, morality or ethics in his entire toxic frame. He creep doesn't even know how to spell the word loyalty. If faced with the choice between doing the right thing and failure, Trump always seems to choose failure, whether deliberately or inadvertently.

Edited August 29Aug 29 by metisdead
Low value trolling meme edited out.

2 hours ago, NewGuy said:

Such a constant and firm ally, Epstein files or not.

NOT. Why do you need these files? Maybe for reading while seated on the toilet? Get a Life, dude.

Perhaps it will be in favor of Turkey.

A strange move which appears to reward Iran with whom the USA is at war.

Although never mooted publicly, many analysts believed Trump hoped support from the Peshmerga might bring about regime change in Iran.........withdrawing support now might be no more than petulance for not helping.

Typical "

4 minutes ago, Thingamabob said:

A strange move which appears to reward Iran with whom the USA is at war.

Typical "Military Industrial Complex" tactic, get some local population to do your dirty work while they rape the area for resources, political gain, while acting as the Worlds Police, etc.

Then pull the plug and run back home, leaving all local allies in the quagmire, unless they have managed to fiddle enough wealth to exist in the good ole US of A.

Rinse and repeat.

6 hours ago, MIke B Bad said:

Although never mooted publicly, many analysts believed Trump hoped support from the Peshmerga might bring about regime change in Iran.........withdrawing support now might be no more than petulance for not helping.

The Kurds were locked and loaded, ready to invade Iran until it became clear that the US/Israeli air strikes and the assassination of their leaders failed to topple the regime.

The Iranians would have fought back against the Kurds.

That's why they didn't invade.

It’s hard to provide military aide when you’re running out yourself.

22 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

A strange move which appears to reward Iran with whom the USA is at war.

Trump has done an absolutely masterful job at turning world sympathy toward a despotic regime. Congratulations Don, I don't think anybody could have done it better.

Erdogan's influence? He's keen to prevent any Kurdish autonomous presence from remaining in neighbouring countries

Edited August 30Aug 30 by candide

On 8/29/2026 at 9:13 AM, cdulaney said:

NOT. Why do you need these files? Maybe for reading while seated on the toilet? Get a Life, dude.

I never get an answer to my question, "why do you need the files?" Always some non-answer which I expected.