Peshmerga reforms fall victim to Iraq's Kurdistan party rivalries

Iraq's Kurdish Peshmerga forces continue to be controlled by the KDP and PUK, despite efforts over many years to wrest control away from the region’s two main political parties and hand them over to the non-partisan Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs. The encouragement of foreign governments – who have spent years and significant resources on support and training programmes to modernise and professionalise the Peshmerga – have not yet resulted in meaningful change.