On Sept. 15, the White House released a statement that read in part, “The United States does not support the Kurdistan Regional Government’s intention to hold a referendum later this month. The United States has repeatedly emphasized to the leaders of the Kurdistan Regional Government that the referendum is distracting from efforts to defeat ISIS and stabilize the liberated areas.”

Ahead of the pivotal referendum, I conducted the following interview with Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq’s Representative to the United States. It was conducted before the aforementioned statement was released by the White House.