President Masoud Barzani met with U.S, Deputy Secretary of State for Iraq and Iran Brett McGurk on January 11th to discuss the security and political developments in Iraq, and tensions between Erbil and Baghdad.


The President and the U.S. State Department official talked about the security situation in the Anbar province and efforts to end this crisis. They both stressed that this crisis should be contained and all sides must work together to prevent it from escalating into a sectarian war between Shiites and Sunnis.

They also discussed relations between Erbil and Baghdad, the humanitarian situation of Syrian refugees in Kurdistan and the participation of Syrian Kurds in the planned Geneva II conference on Syria. They agreed to continue their consultations.