How many times Americans allegedly betrayed Kurds?

As Israel and the US are planning to support Kurdish militias on the ground against Iran, here is a reminder:

There is no single agreed-upon number, but historians and journalists usually highlight 4–7 major episodes where US policy is widely described as “betraying” the Kurds.^[1][2][3]

• Post‑World War I promises (1920s): Kurds point to US and Western backing for the Treaty of Sèvres (which envisaged a possible Kurdish state) and then the shift to supporting the new Iraqi and Turkish states under later agreements, which left Kurds without a state and under hostile regimes.^[4][5]
• Early Cold War in Iraq (1960s): The US briefly helped Iraqi Kurds against Baghdad, then cut support and supplied the Iraqi government with weapons later used against Kurdish areas, which many Kurdish sources depict as an early pattern of using Kurds instrumentally.^[5][6][4]
• Kissinger and the 1972‑75 Iraqi Kurdish rebellion: Washington and the Shah armed Iraqi Kurds to pressure Baghdad, then abruptly ended support after the 1975 Algiers Accord between Iran and Iraq, leaving the Kurds exposed to brutal reprisals; a US congressional investigation called this “a cynical enterprise,” and Kissinger’s line “covert action should not be confused with missionary work” became infamous in Kurdish memory.^[2][7][8][4]
• 1991 Gulf War uprising: After George H. W. Bush urged Iraqis to rise up against Saddam, Kurds and Shia rebelled; the US then allowed Iraqi forces to crush the uprisings before later imposing a no‑fly zone over Iraqi Kurdistan, so Kurds remember both abandonment and partial later protection as part of the same story.^[3][4][2]
• Support and constraints in the 1990s: While the no‑fly zone enabled de facto Kurdish autonomy in northern Iraq, the US also tolerated or armed Turkish operations against the PKK that destroyed thousands of Kurdish villages in Turkey, which many Kurds view as another form of betrayal.^[4][5]
• Post‑2003 Iraq (Kurdish expectations vs US policy): Iraqi Kurds cooperated closely with US forces and hoped this would secure strong, lasting backing for maximal autonomy or independence, but Washington repeatedly prioritized Iraqi territorial integrity and relations with Turkey over Kurdish statehood demands.^[9][4]
• 2017 KRG independence referendum: After years of close alliance against Saddam and then ISIS, the US opposed the Iraqi Kurdish independence referendum and did not prevent Baghdad (with Iranian-backed forces) from retaking Kirkuk and other disputed territories, seen by many Kurds as another strategic abandonment.^[3][9][4]
• 2014–19 Syria war and 2019 US withdrawal: Syrian Kurdish forces (YPG/SDF) lost thousands of fighters battling ISIS with US air and ground support; in October 2019, Donald Trump’s decision to pull US troops from the Turkish border cleared the way for a Turkish offensive, widely denounced—including in US and Kurdish discourse—as a fresh “betrayal.”^{[10][11][12][2]}

1. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2026/3/5/while-us-encourages-kurds-to-attack-iran-history-serves-darker-warning
2. https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/america-betrays-the-kurds-again/
3. https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4016486/seven-us-betrayals-kurds-within-century…-will-it-fail-them-again-syria
4. https://newint.org/features/2020/06/11/100-years-hope-struggle-and-betrayal
5. https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/10/14/no-friend-but-the-mountains-a-history-of-us-betrayal-of-the-kurds/
6. https://jacobin.com/2023/11/kissinger-in-the-gulf
7. https://theinsightinternational.com/kissingers-kurds-killings-2023-06-02
8. https://www.quotescosmos.com/quotes/Henry-Kissinger-quote-2.html
9. https://dckurd.org/2019/01/07/how-america-abandoned-the-kurds/
10. https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/07/middleeast/trump-kurdish-syria-turkey-intl/index.html
11. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-journal-of-international-law/article/united-states-withdraws-troops-from-syria-leaving-kurds-vulnerable/3FFB76D72528C7FE1E2285176FF63153
12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SvptRgZE5s
13. https://www.facebook.com/TheYoungTurks/posts/analyzing-the-historical-context-of-us-support-for-kurds-and-the-potential-for-f/1253854423564043/
14. https://dckurd.org/2019/11/12/lessons-from-trumps-syria-retreat-part-ii/
15. https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=applebaum_award