ERBIL () - Iraq's sovereignty remains constrained as long as weapons remain outside government authority, Iraqi Communist Party Secretary Raed Fahmi said, arguing that bringing arms under state control is a national responsibility that should not depend on pressure from the United States or other foreign powers.
In an exclusive interview with on Saturday, Fahmi described Iraq's current situation as unstable, linking the country's security problems directly to its economic difficulties and ability to attract foreign investment.
"By every measure, Iraq's current situation is not normal,"Fahmi said. "On the one hand, the country's sovereignty is limited. Weapons inside Iraq remain in the hands of actors outside government authority, and that means the country's sovereignty is constrained."
He said sovereignty must also be reflected in the Iraqi state's ability to act effectively amid regional and international pressures.
"The first challenge is security, while the second is economic,"Fahmi said. "Iraq is experiencing an economic crisis."
Fahmi argued that the two challenges are closely connected.
Iraq is seeking foreign capital at a time when investors require predictable security and political stability, he said, warning that current conditions do little to encourage businesses considering entering the Iraqi market.
"Foreign investors need stability, but Iraq's security situation offers no encouraging or optimistic signs that would attract them,"he said.
For Fahmi, strengthening state institutions is therefore not simply a security objective. He sees it as essential to improving Iraq's wider economic prospects.
Central to that argument is the question of weapons held outside government authority.
"Before this matter is connected to the United States or any external issue, it is a national duty,"Fahmi said of efforts to bring weapons under state control.
His comments come as Iraq approaches Sept. 30, a date that has featured prominently in debates over both the international coalition's military mission and the future of armed groups. Iraqi government officials have separately said the coalition mission is scheduled to conclude by the end of September.
Fahmi said some armed actors appeared unlikely to comply with expectations surrounding Sept. 30, while the government had indicated that the date should not be treated as a final deadline for resolving the weapons issue.
He cautioned, however, against allowing that uncertainty to turn into an open-ended process.
"The process should not be prolonged, and negotiations cannot be allowed to drag on indefinitely,"Fahmi said. "A solution must therefore be found."
He was equally critical of any arrangement that formally appeared to address the issue without placing weapons genuinely under state authority.
"We must not settle for a superficial proposal in which weapons are ostensibly collected while they remain outside state authority,"he said.
Fahmi argued that Iraq and the wider region are too unstable for the government to retreat from the substance of the issue.
Under Iraq's security arrangements, US and other international coalition forces that entered the country in 2014 as part of the campaign against ISIS are scheduled to conclude their mission by the end of September, with bases and military installations to be handed over to Iraqi authorities. Iraqi officials have described Sept. 30 as the agreed date for ending the coalition's mission.
Fahmi's position is that the weapons question should remain fundamentally an Iraqi one even as that international military presence winds down.
For him, the measure of progress will not be whether a deadline is formally observed, but whether the Iraqi state ultimately gains effective authority over armed power within the country.
