WASHINGTON
The representative of Iraq's regional Kurdish government to the U.S. said Monday that Kurdish forces fighting Daesh are being deprived of sufficient military aid from Baghdad and the U.S. coalition.
"Peshmerga, although valiant, heroic and committed to fight ISIS, are under-equipped, some of the weapons date back to the Second World War," Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman told a panel at the Washington-based Bipartisan Policy Center, using an alternative abbreviation for the militant group.
Despite the inadequacies, peshmerga -- Kurdish security forces -- have liberated about 95 percent of Kurdish territory from Daesh in nine months of fighting, said Abdul Rahman.
She acknowledged U.S. support for peshmerga but added that in order to conduct a more effective fight against the militant group, more military assistance is required.
"In the early days of our fight against ISIS, emergency military equipment arrived from friends in Europe and America," the Kurdish representative said. "Since August, however, we have seen numerous delays in the coalition’s effort in train and equip peshmerga."
She added that the Iraqi central government delayed and blocked a vast majority of the military aid given by the U.S. through an Iraqi train and equip program.
The White House requested from Congress last November the approval of $5.6 billion to support a strategy to "degrade, and ultimately defeat" Daesh.
Within that funding, the Obama administration asked for $1.6 billion for an Iraqi train and equip program.
But the Iraqi central government failed to provide the Kurds with sufficient arms and aid from the assistance, according to Abdul Rahman.
"Of the 250 MRAPs, mine resistant armored vehicles, sent to Baghdad we received only 25," she said. "Through the train and equip program only three Kurdish brigades are authorized to be trained."
She said that there are more than 150,000 peshmerga troops. Three brigades would number 9,000 - 12,000 troops, less than 10 percent of all peshmerga forces to be trained in the program.
The Kurdish envoy also criticized Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi for blocking a Kurdish budget and remaining indifferent to the problems in the Kurdish region.
She said that during a press conference with Masoud Barzani -- the leader of the regional Kurdish government -- the Iraqi prime minister "just chuckled" and "bat away" the question about blocking the Kurds' budget.
"That is not good enough. We are all Iraqis. Prime Minister Abadi is my prime minister, too. Does he not care about the refugees in the Kurdistan region just because they are in Kurdistan," she said.
The Iraqi government is required to fund the Kurdish budget for $1 billion per month as per an agreement signed last December, but so far Baghdad has released about $250 million in January and $450 million in February.
Another payment for March is expected shortly but funding for the 2014 budget, which constitutes more than $10 billion, still remains unpaid.
