According to Kurdpress, in the draft budget of the 2027 fiscal year of the US Ministry of Defense, the direct contribution of the Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Region from the "Training and Equipping to Counter ISIS" program has been reduced to zero dollars; Meanwhile, tens of millions of dollars of security aid are still planned for Iraq and Syria.

According to the official schedule of the budget for training and equipping the forces against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, three main recipients have been identified in the Iraqi sector:

Iraqi Ministry of Defense: 38.6 million dollars

Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS): $57.85 million

Ministry of Peshmerga of the Kurdistan Region (MoPA): zero dollars

MoPA stands for the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs of the Kurdistan Region and is the institution under which the Peshmerga forces operate. In this way, the direct educational and equipment aid of the United States to the Peshmerga has been excluded in this budget line. Meanwhile, in the 2026 budget, about 61 million dollars were allocated for equipping, training and supporting Peshmerga forces. Also, a separate financial aid worth 60 million dollars, which was paid to the Peshmerga in the form of regular support, was stopped earlier.

Analysts evaluate this change as a sign of the transfer of Washington's focus from the direct support of the regional forces to the official institutions of the Iraqi central government.

The end of the agreement between the United States and the region is coming

After the war with ISIS, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the US Department of Defense and the Ministry of Peshmerga of the Kurdistan Region to support the structural reforms and integration of the Peshmerga forces. This agreement is supposed to end in September this year, and so far there has been no sign of the US agreeing to extend it.

Allocation of 130 million dollars for Syria and Kurdish regions

In the Syria sector, the Pentagon has requested a total of $130 million in funding for fiscal year 2027, which is the same as last year. Although the text of the budget does not specify how much of this amount will be allocated to the Syrian Democratic Forces and how much to other U.S. partner forces, $61.5 million of this budget has been designated to pay the salaries of the local forces involved in the anti-ISIS operation; The part that mainly includes Kurdish-led forces in northern and eastern Syria. Last year, the United States allocated 65 million dollars to pay the salaries of these forces.

The Pentagon's 2027 budget shows that the direct contribution of the Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Region has been removed from the official US training and equipping program, while financial support for US-allied forces in Syria continues. This change could be a sign of resetting Washington's security priorities in Iraq and Syria.