Iraq: The Road Ahead

The Iraqi Governing Council, having filled Iraq’s seat at the opening session of the UN General Assembly, has begun to assert itself as the first voice of the new Iraq. Nevertheless, the council faces enormous challenges in securing international military and economic assistance for Iraq, working out its relationship with the United States, representing the views of Iraqis to the occupying powers, and helping to guide Iraqi reconstruction and political development.

The Saban Center for Middle East Policy hosted a luncheon discussion with Hoshyar Zebari, the current Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Iraqi Governing Council. Zebari is a longtime senior official of the Kurdish Democratic Party. He was elected to the party’s central committee in 1979 and to its political bureau in 1989. Since 1992, Zebari has served both as director of the KDP’s international relations bureau and as a member of the executive and leadership councils of the Iraqi National Congress.