Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister of Interior Reber Ahmed told reporters on Tuesday that there is a need for more coordination between Erbil and Baghdad after the U.S.-led Coalition withdrawal on September 30, since ISIS remains a serious threat.

“Following the withdrawal of Coalition forces, this coordination needs to improve, particularly as there is a new government in Baghdad,” he said. “Unfortunately, until just a few days ago, Iraq did not have a Minister of Interior or a Minister of Defense, even though these ministries needed to be filled by appointed ministers. Fortunately, these ministers are now in place, and coordination with intelligence, security, and other institutions is good,” he said.

“Our position in the Kurdistan Region, including that of our security institutions, is that ISIS remains a serious threat. Unfortunately, some officials in Baghdad have come to believe that ISIS is finished,” he added. 

“We therefore need to bring our perspectives and objectives closer together. What we are seeing is that terrorist activity is increasing daily, not only in Iraq, but also in Syria and neighboring countries.”

This week, ISIS claimed responsibility for the October 23 attack on a church in Jordan’s southern Karak Governorate, in which at least nine people were killed and 40 others injured. On Monday, Jordan carried out retaliatory strikes in Syria in which seven civilians were killed, according to the Syrian authorities. 

“This threat is serious and must be treated accordingly. We need to establish firm plans and decisions and work together, as we did before, to confront ISIS,” Minister Ahmed said.

Furthermore, on the ongoing peace process between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish state, Minister Reber Ahmed underlined that the PKK’s fighters should have not been present in the Kurdistan Region in the first place.

“We support any initiative that can help move this war and unrest away from the borders of the Kurdistan Region. If it is a peace process, we welcome it and support it,” he said.

Earlier this month, the PKK said it had withdrawn its forces from inside Türkiye and the border areas of the Kurdistan Region.

“These problems and conflicts must be moved away from the borders of the Kurdistan Region. Neither military forces nor the PKK should remain on the territory along the borders of the Kurdistan Region.

“Wherever efforts toward peace take place, the Kurdistan Region and its political leadership, particularly President Masoud Barzani, support resolving all the region’s problems peacefully.”