Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 08/2014

Confidence Building between Turks and Iraqi Kurds

June 2009

Atlantic Council

Abstract

The Obama administration’s “responsible redeployment” from Iraq is made even more urgent by the requirements resulting from worsening conditions in Afghanistan and Pakistan. For redeployment to occur on scale and on schedule, the United States seeks an end-state in Iraq that is stable and at peace with its neighbors. Simmering sectarian violence is inevitable, but it will not break Iraq. However, ethnic conflict between Arabs and Kurds could escalate into a major conflagration with regional implications.