Recent cooperation between Iraq's federal government in Baghdad and the government in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region suggests that a pragmatic solution to many of their disagreements is possible, but oil exports will remain a major sticking point in the near term. A long-delayed government formation process in Iraq has progressed in recent weeks thanks to cooperation between the country's feuding groups, including the Kurds. On Oct. 13, the two largest and most powerful political parties in Iraqi Kurdistan agreed on a presidential candidate and voted in the federal Iraqi parliament alongside other parties -- bringing Iraq the closest it's been to forming a government in a year. Kurdish leaders' involvement in the government formation process proves that they can still work productively with their federal counterparts in Baghdad when Iraq's stability is at stake. This bodes well for continued political and security cooperation between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) --...
