[3] He was a leading negotiator in the drafting of the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL), the first Iraqi constitution since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

Receiving no fiscal transfers from the Government of Iraq (GoI), coupled with rapidly declining oil prices, the Kurdistan region was in the midst of a severe financial crisis.

[6] Moreover, the Islamic State was rampaging its way throughout Iraq, claiming territory and establishing itself as one of history's most brutal terrorist organizations, resulting in a major humanitarian crisis that forced 1.8 million people to flee war and violence and seek refuge in the Kurdistan region.

[citation needed] A major part of the KRG's economic reform plan included improving oversight of government expenditures.

[9] Talabani lives in Erbil with his wife Sherri Kraham to who he got married in 2005 in Il Castello del Palagio in Italy.