Kurdish peshmerga fighters gather north of Kirkuk, Iraq, Oct. 19, 2017. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed
Al-Monitor: Pentagon stops budgeting for peshmerga salaries
The Trump administration’s budget proposal for next fiscal year does not include peshmerga salaries even as the Pentagon aims to continue training the Kurdish force.
The Department of Defense had requested $365 million in stipends for the year that ends Sept. 30 but did not spend the money after negotiations to extend an expiring memorandum of understanding broke down in September. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had agreed to pay the peshmerga wages in October, but a US Inspector General report released earlier this month said the Kurdish fighters still hadn’t been paid
“Those documents do not specifically refer to training/stipends for the peshmerga,” Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon told Al-Monitor in an email today. Lawmakers have yet to weigh in on the $716 billion Pentagon request for fiscal year 2019.
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WNU Editor: Everyone knew that this day was going to come .... the war is almost over, so why spend the money.
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