Dayuhan

When Mosul fell the Kurds were actually celebrating. They were able to seize Kirkuk and other disputed areas. They were talking about a referendum for independence, about how IS was a better neighbor than Baghdad, etc. The press was full of reports about how Kurdistan was going to benefit from the IS surge and how it was going to be considered the stable part of Iraq and this would all help with its oil industry and move towards independence. That was all BS to me. IS turned their attention north and east when the drive to Baghdad was blocked and took Jalawla in Diyala and Sinjar in Ninewa and threatened the Kurdish capital of Irbil. The peshmerga ended up abandoning both areas with little to no fight. Most of the oil companies pulled out their staff as well.

Kurdistan is going to get independence one day but it's not going to be anytime soon. It depends upon Baghdad for around 90% of its money, and its oil industry hasn't seen the growth in exports that it was hoping for. Until those two issues are resolved it will remain part of Iraq despite the announcements every couple months about it leaving and all the press reports about how great its petroleum industry is doing.