Andrew Snow, “Team Leader Regional Reconstruction Team in Erbil,” wrote a response to my post of February 23, in which I quoted the Kurdish website Sbeiy.com as noting U.S. diplomats had met the former governor of Sulaymani, who is affiliated with the “Change List.” Mr. Snow writes:

U.S. Diplomats around the world routinely meet with representatives from political parties from across the political spectrum, including both ruling and opposition parties. We have met regularly with the ruling and opposition political parties in Iraq, including in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, since 2003.

Mr. Snow also objects to Sbeiy.com calling him a consul. Regardless, while it is good that Mr. Snow met with the “Change List,” it is untrue that U.S. diplomats meet regularly with political opposition in Kurdistan or elsewhere; the frequency and level of meetings matter.

This has been a constant complaint not only in Iraqi Kurdistan, but also in places like Turkey, with major political parties like the Republican Peoples’ party and Nationalist party, and in Pakistan, where a previous ambassador forbade embassy staff from meeting with political opposition to avoid antagonizing the government. A few years ago, the U.S. embassy in Cairo ran supposedly independent aid projects past the Mubarak government for approval, in order to avoid antagonizing Mubarak’s party.

While John Negroponte was ambassador in Iraq, certain political parties had no contact with the U.S. embassy. When Dick Naab headed the U.S. team in Erbil, there was little desire to meet with the opposition and, at the same time, the Kurdish opposition grew wary of meetings with U.S. diplomats, as Naab would provide read-outs of his meetings to the ruling party (Naab now does business with the ruling party). Former U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad is today involved in a business relationship with the leadership of the Kurdistan Democratic party; this corrupts the image of the U.S. mission in Erbil, through no fault of Mr. Snow’s. When Najmaddin Karim, a prominent candidate in Kirkuk uses a photo of himself shaking hands with Hillary Clinton as part of his campaign poster — this was published in a Kurdish newspaper yesterday – it cements the idea in Iraqi Kurdistan that the U.S. mission is not neutral. Regardless, let us agree that it is good that the U.S. mission is meeting with the democratic opposition, and I thank Mr. Snow for his duty and for taking the time to write in.