Zalmay Khalilzad’s take on Iraq – Part 2

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Before being named a board member of the Norwegian oil firm DNO – one of the biggest foreign players in Iraqi Kurdistan – former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad spoke with Iraq Oil Report about the country during and after his tenure.

One of the critical issues he faced as ambassador was the rift between the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government in the north and the central government in Baghdad. Their dispute over control of Iraq’s oil sector has been a major front in a battle to determine the shape of Iraq’s young democracy. Khalilzad tried to referee this fight, brokering the unsuccessful negotiations to pass legislation that would have governed the development of Iraq’s hydrocarbon resources.