“The United States welcomed the January 16 meeting between Kurdistan Democratic Party President Masoud Barzani and Syrian Democratic Forces Commander General Mazloum Abdi,” the State Department’s Near Eastern Affairs bureau said on X. 

Barzani and Abdi met in Erbil on Friday to discuss Kurdish unity against the backdrop of the events in Syria, over a month after Bashar al-Assad’s regime was toppled by an Islamist-led coalition, a development that pressured northeast Syria’s (Rojava) opposing coalitions to accelerate Kurdish unity talks.

“Intra-Kurdish dialogue can play a critical role in bolstering an inclusive political transition in Syria,” it stressed.

Rojava’s ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the opposition Kurdish National Council (ENKS/KNC) signed a historic agreement, mediated by Barzani, in Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province in 2015 to end tensions and share power in northeast Syria (Rojava), but the deal was never implemented. Each side blamed the other for its failure.

On Saturday, a Rojava representative to Washington with the SDF’s political wing called the meeting a “national demand” that highlighted the importance for the Kurds in Rojava to negotiate with Syria as a unified front. 

Sinam Mohamad, the representative, noted that a unified Kurdish front in Rojava would attract greater American and Western support.