Iraqi prime minister-designate Haider al-Abadi Iraqi prime minister-designate Haider al-Abadi The threat of Iraq’s collapse has forced conciliatory tones from the country’s Sunni and Shia Arab populations – but the Kurds, once the kingmakers of Iraqi politics, are vowing to play hardball. Prime minister designate Haidar al-Abadi has 20 days to put together a cabinet, and foreign powers are pressing for a national unity government that can bring Iraq’s main parties together and slowly heal divisions along sectarian and ethnic lines. More On this story On this topic IN Middle East & North Africa The race to reach the political consensus Iraq needs to unlock greater foreign and internal support for its fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (known as Isis) takes place as its army, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and Shia militias separately battle to contain the territorial gains made by the group in a […]