Publication

Since the fall of the Hussein regime there has been continuous concern that fighting might break out between the Arabs and the Kurds over Kirkuk and the boundary of the Kurdistan Regional Government. US forces are due to start pulling out of their conflict prevention role along the 'trigger line' that divides the Kurds and the Arabs in the disputed territories by the summer of 2011. Unless new conflict prevention mechanisms are put in place, there is a real risk that tensions could boil over as people tire of waiting for a political resolution.