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Source: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/kurds-voted-so-is-the-middle-east-breaking-up
The Kurds Have Been Pivotal in the Fight Against ISIS
(New Yorker) Robin Wright - The timing of the Kurdish independence referendum was intentional. It exploited both the region's chaos and its dependence on the Kurds to fight ISIS. The Kurdish Peshmerga, long famed for their skills as warriors, even when vastly outmanned and outgunned, have been the most pivotal force in the U.S.-backed campaigns in both Iraq and Syria. The Peshmerga stopped the ISIS blitz in 2014, which was headed for Baghdad. They were pivotal in retaking huge chunks of the Islamic State and, this spring, in retaking Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city. In Syria, the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces have been the most reliable and effective party in the current campaign to retake Raqqa, the Islamic State's capital.