Publication

This backgrounder contends that America's reliance on Kurdish forces to battle the so-called Islamic State is not without its dangers. More specifically, the text's authors argue that 1) the US-led air campaign in Syria is facilitating the expansion of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), which the US State Department has officially labeled a terrorist organization; and 2) Kurdish expansion into traditionally Arab areas will worsen ethnic tensions and dry up Sunni support for wider US objectives in Syria and Iraq. The authors close their analysis by recommending ways to mitigate these very real risks.