A representative of the Kurdish National Government in Iraq, Qubad Talabani, spoke to students about the importance of U.S. involvement in stabilizing his country, at the Tempe campus late Tuesday afternoon.
The forum, titled “The Future of Iraq,” was hosted by Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society, and co-sponsored by the Young Democrats and College Republicans.
Pi Sigma Alpha President Tim Brown said Talabani’s input seemed particularly relevant as the new administration in the White House outlines a new policy in Iraq.
“With President [Barack] Obama launching his new plan for Iraq last week, it’s incredibly timely,” Brown said before Talabani’s speech.
Talabani, the son of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, lobbies and speaks for the Kurdistan Regional Government, or KRG. The
regional government is a local governing body that presides over a region of the country dominated by the ethnic Kurdish minority.
Kurdistan has experienced relatively low levels of violence and high levels of economic growth since the beginning of the war, Talabani said. Officials of the governing body have painted the region in advertisements as “The Other Iraq,” a peaceful enclave open to foreign investment.
In spite of the region’s prosperity, Western media coverage has ignored the development in Kurdistan, instead focusing its attention completely on violence in other parts of the country, Talabani said.
“If you read The New York Times, you probably think the country is totally unraveling, and it’s a very dangerous place to do business in,” he said. “But the reality is that there are regions of the country that are stable, that are secure [and] that are developing.”
Talabani said Kurds were thankful to the U.S. for ousting the Saddam Hussein regime and called for “direct engagement” in Iraqi political affairs to help its diverse population resolve conflicts peacefully. He also expressed doubt about Obama’s new plan for a phased withdrawal of American troops, which could lead to a complete withdrawal as early as 2010.
“Under a plan like that, there will be great pressure to withdraw within the timetable,” Talabani said. “It has to be reflected with how much political progress is made [in Iraq].”
Young Democrats Vice President Erica Pederson said she was pleased to hear an insider’s perspective of Iraq but feels a responsible, phased withdrawal from Iraq should be high on American policymakers’ list of priorities.
“I’m in favor of President Obama’s timetable,” Pederson said. “But if the situation does change dramatically, it’s important to be able to change [the timetable].”
College Republicans president and political science senior Ben Stewart called Talabani’s speech “amazing” and “insightful.” Stewart said he was pleased to hear a voice in the debate surrounding Iraq that went beyond whether or not the U.S. should have a presence in the country to begin with.
“We’re there, so why waste time talking about whether we should’ve gone?” Stewart said. “[The current situation in Iraq] is certainly something the media should be covering more.”
Reach the reporter at derek.quizon@asu.edu.
