ERBIL, Iraq, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Kurdish officials moved to unify Peshmerga forces into a singular entity as Iraqi defense ministers invited former army officers to join the national military.
The Kurdish Peshmerga security forces, under the authority of Kurdish President Massoud Barzani and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan chief and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, are charged with protecting Iraqi Kurdistan's borders with Iran and Turkey.
Barzani said in a meeting with his top commanding officers he would like to explore merging Peshmerga forces, Voices of Iraq said Friday.
"Kurdistan's President Massoud Barzani headed a meeting of the general command of the region's border guarding forces to discuss the issue of unifying the two ministries of Peshmerga and Peshmerga Affairs into one ministry," a statement from Barzani's office read.
Barzani also discussed uniting the Peshmerga with Iraqi national forces in order to preserve regional stability. The move follows an earlier decision to transfer Iraqi security forces to the Kurdish region.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi Ministry of Defense said it would establish committees throughout the Iraqi army to invite former military personnel from the Saddam era to join the national security forces.
L. Paul Bremer III, the former U.S. civilian administrator of Iraq, disbanded the Iraqi military in May 2003.
