American military magazine: Ignoring the Kurds has a cost for Washington

According to KurdPress, Gerrit Lane, one of the directors of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), wrote in a note in the military magazine "We Are the Mighty" that Washington is once again on the verge of repeating a historical mistake: abandoning an ally that has fought alongside American forces in the most difficult years.Lynn writes that America’s allies are effectively paying the price for being abandoned, and that America is losing its credibility and strategic advantage. He cites Vietnam, Syria, and Afghanistan as examples of this pattern, and says that the Iraqi Kurds are now on the same path.

According to him, the Peshmerga have been America’s military partners since 1991 until the fight against ISIS, and thousands of them have been killed in the process. However, funding mechanisms for the Kurdish forces will cease in 2027, and Washington’s defense agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs also expires in September 2026. Lin sees these two decisions as a blow to the region’s security capabilities, especially in a situation where the region has been the target of hundreds of drone and missile attacks in the recent US-Iran war.

The author emphasizes that the consequences of this approach are not limited to the Kurds.The governments and communities of the more than 170 countries where U.S. forces are present are watching Washington’s treatment of its partners, he said. If an ally is abandoned after years of cooperation, others will recalibrate and may move closer to powers like China.

Lin does not see support for the Kurdistan Region as “charity” but rather as an investment in U.S. interests. He calls on the U.S. government to continue to provide financial and equipment support to the Kurds, so that their experience does not become a warning to any country thinking of cooperating with Washington.