Jaafar Sheikh Mustafa


Jaafar Sheikh Mustafa is the current Vice [President of Kurdistan Region] under Nechirvan Idris Barzani's administration. He is from Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
He joined the Peshmarga partisans in 1969 and became head of administration of Aylul revolts in 1975, which is the First Iraqi–Kurdish War. In 1979 he joined The New Revolution movement and returned to the battlefield as commander of. In 1981, he became commander of. In 1982 he served as colonel/brigadier general of. Three years later, in 1985, he became Lieutenant General of until the Anfal genocide. During the great Kurdish uprising in 1991 he was a commander of unit/district of Darbandikhan, Khanaqin and Khrmatu as head of the uprising plan. In 1992 he became deputy general commander of Khanaqin and Garmian district, and alter that year became Erbil district commander. During the first 1992 [Kurdistan Region parliamentary election|Kurdish Parliament election in 1992] he was elected as an MP and then became vice minister of Peshmerga forces. Jaafar Sheikh Mustafa was one of the most active generals during the war against Islamist terrorists such as Ansar al-Islam and Islamic [State of Iraq and the Levant|Daesh ISIL]. From 2001 to 2003 on request of Jala Talabani, he returned as the Head of Peshmerga forces across Kurdistan Region. He also served as the Minister of Peshmerga Affairs in the Kurdistan Regional Government's seventh cabinet, from 2012 to 2016. Sheikh Jaafar remains one of the most active military commanders.
From 2014 he commanded the Peshmerga, fighting against the Daesh ISIL until his election as Vice President of Kurdistan Region in 2019. He played a key role in the decisive Battle of Mosul. He was appointed as Vice President by President Nechirvan Barzani on September 8, 2019.