ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The US Department of State on Monday said that it opposes any legislation that is “inconsistent” with the US' bilateral security assistance and partnership with Iraq, referring to a bill to institutionalize the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). 

 

“The United States strongly opposed any legislation that is inconsistent with the goals of our bilateral security assistance and partnership and runs counter to strengthening Iraq’s existing security institutions and real Iraqi sovereignty,” a State Department spokesperson told The New Region on Monday. 

 

“The bill institutionalizes armed groups associated with terrorist entities and leaders, including some that have attacked US interests and killed US personnel. This is a deeply unhelpful step,” they added. 

 

A proposed draft bill approved by the Council of Ministers in February includes the Service and Retirement Law for the PMF and aims to organize the Popular Mobilization Authority similarly to other state security and military agencies.

 

The PMF or Hashd al-Shaabi was formed upon a call by Iraq’s top Shiite authority Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani soon after the Islamic State (ISIS) took over large swathes of territory in Iraq. The force has been officially incorporated into the Iraqi armed forces, enjoying similar privileges as the Iraqi army.

 

The group is widely regarded as having close ties with Iran, a long-standing adversary of the US in the Middle East. Groups affiliated with the PMF have time and again been accused of targeting US interests inside Iraq, especially after the US assassination of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Qasem Soleimani in January 2020 in Baghdad.

 

The legislation, first proposed in 2014, remains one of Iraq’s most politically sensitive issues.