Senior Kurdish leaders met with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski on September 9 to discuss the upcoming Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections, which are scheduled to take place on October 20, 2024, after several delays since October 2022.

During the meeting, the office of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said in a readout that Prime Minister Barzani had emphasized “the importance of conducting the elections in a peaceful and fair environment, ensuring that the process is clean, free of irregularities, and under international supervision.”

The meeting also focused on the topic of the relations between the Kurdistan Region and Iraq’s federal government.

Furthermore, Ambassador Romanowski met with President Masoud Barzani in order to emphasize the “need to conduct campaigns in a free and non-abusive atmosphere.”

They also reportedly discussed President Barzani’s visit to Baghdad in July.

Read More: President Barzani Visits Baghdad After Six Years Hiatus

They also talked about the issue of the presence of coalition forces in Iraq and the threat of terrorism in Iraq and the region.

Unlike the federal government in Baghdad, the KRG has advocated for the U.S.-led coalition troops to stay.

The U.S.-led coalition currently has troops stationed in Baghdad, Erbil, and Anbar.

Reuters on September 6 reported that the United States and Iraq have agreed on a plan for the U.S.-led coalition forces to withdraw a number of troops in 2025 and withdraw them fully by the end of 2026. 

Neither Iraq nor Washington has officially confirmed these reports yet.