The Kurdish regional authority effectively split into KDP and PUK entities. The Kurds welcomed the U.S. invasion of Iraq and have cooperated with U.S. political and military officials in Iraq since. In return for what they assert has been their consistent pro-U.S. orientation, the Kurds have sought U.S. support for their positions in their various disputes with the other groups in Iraq, and have sought to ensure that the planned December 2011 end to U.S. military involvement does not cause the United States to abandon Iraq, and the Kurds. The Kurdish region fully participated in the Iraqi elections of January 30, 2005—which included provincial council elections nationwide and elections for the Kurdistan National Assembly (KNA), as well as national elections for an interim government. A draft was adopted by the KNA on June 25, 2009. Major Issues Between Baghdad and the Kurds

The 2005 constitution and post-Saddam politics—coupled with the Kurdish leaders' close relations with the United States—gave the Kurds substantial political strength. However, that strength caused Iraqi minorities in the north, Iraq's neighbors, and Iraq's Arab leaders to perceive the Kurds as asserting excessive demands and threatening Iraq's integrity. Kurdish Strength in Baghdad Reduced by March 7, 2010 Elections

The next phase of KRG-government relations is being shaped by the outcome of the March 7, 2010, parliamentary elections. However, Gorran, the Kurdish opposition group, ran on a separate slate, as is another Kurdish faction called the Kurdistan Islamic Union. As a result of the elections, many observers assess that the main Kurdish factions are no longer "kingmakers" in central government politics. The number of seats held by the two main factions was reduced from 53 in the 2006-2010 Assembly to 43 seats in the current Assembly. As a result, the two main Kurdish parties have not taken clear or definitive positions on the composition of the next full term government, even though nearly seven months have elapsed since the election and no executive branch has been chosen. (For more information on efforts to form the next executive, see CRS Report RS21968, Iraq: Politics, Elections, and Benchmarks , by [author name scrubbed]). The Independence Question

The question of outright Kurdish independence is not an active source of friction between the Iraqi Kurds and the central government at this time, but it remains a concern of Iraq's neighbors that have Kurdish minorities. Because Sunni Arabs fully participated in the January 31, 2009, provincial elections, the Kurdish influence in the two provinces of Nineveh and Diyala—the location of several disputed terrorities—was sharply reduced. The Kurds refuse to recognize Nujaifi's authority in Kurdish-inhabited areas of the province. The 2009 version presumably contains more eligible Kurds, because Kurds have moved back to northern Iraq as time has elapsed since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Eruption of Territorial Tensions

Despite the Kurd-Arab tensions in the north, clashes between the pe shmerga and the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) were defused with the help of the U.S. military and U.S. diplomats in Baghdad. However, the then overall commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Gen. Raymond Odierno, became sufficiently concerned about the tensions that in August 2009, he unveiled a plan to build confidence between the security forces of the two sides.
The Kurdish-inhabited region of northern Iraq has been relatively peaceful and prosperous since the fall of Saddam Hussein. However, the Iraqi Kurds' political autonomy, and territorial and economic demands, have caused friction with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other Arab leaders of Iraq, and with Christian and other minorities in the north. As the United States transitions to a support role in Iraq, these tensions are assessed by U.S. commanders as having the potential to erode the security gains that have taken place in Iraq since 2007. Some U.S. officials want to establish clear policies and provisions to contain these frictions in advance of the expected completion of the U.S. military departure from Iraq at the end of 2011. Turkey and Iran were skeptical about Kurdish autonomy in Iraq but have reconciled themselves to this reality and have emerged as major investors in the Kurdish region of Iraq.
The major territorial, financial, and political issues between the Kurds and the central government do not appear close to resolution. Tensions increased after Kurdish representation in two key mixed provinces was reduced by the January 31, 2009, provincial elections. The disputes nearly erupted into all-out violence between Kurdish militias and central government forces in mid-2009, and the Kurds continue not to recognize the authority of the Sunni Arab governor of Nineveh Province in Kurdish-inhabited areas of the province. The low-level clashes in 2009 caused the U.S. military to propose new U.S. deployments designed to build confidence between Kurdish and government forces; joint U.S.-Iraqi-Kurdish militia patrols began in January 2010. The Kurds also perceive that their role as "kingmakers" in Iraq's central government - their ability to throw their parliamentary votes toward one side or another – was reduced by the March 7, 2010 elections which saw the seats held by the major Kurdish factions lowered from previous levels.
The Kurds' political clout in Baghdad is further reduced by the political ferment in the Kurdish region itself. The Kurdish region voted for president and for members of the Kurdistan National Assembly on July 25, 2009. The results, in which an opposition list won almost 25% of the vote, have threatened the previously iron grip on the politics and economy of the region exercised by the two main factions—the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. The two main factions competed as a joint list in the March 7, 2010, national elections for the next full-term government. However, the Kurdish opposition competed separately and won several seats on its own—parliamentary votes which the opposition might not necessarily place at the disposal of the mainstream Kurdish leaders for the purpose of bargaining with Iraq's Arabs. For more on Iraq, see CRS Report RL31339, Iraq: Post-Saddam Governance and Security, by [author name scrubbed].