The short- and long-term political stability of the Iraqi central government cracked on Tuesday as the Sunnis and Kurds walked out of the first parliament meeting following national elections.

While the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) forces continue making military headway, the political unity of the nation seems to be collapsing. However, one upside for the United States may be the formation of a new Kurdish nation in the northern region of Iraq.

Following the collapse at parliament today, the head of the Kurdish region publicly declared he would schedule a referendum on independence.

“From now on, we won’t hide that that’s our goal,” Massoud Barzani, president of the Regional Kurdistan Government, told the BBC in an interview. “Iraq is effectively partitioned now. Are we supposed to stay in this tragic situation the country’s living? It’s not me who will decide on independence. It’s the people.”

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The referendum will come in “a matter of months,” Barzani said. He said the Kurdistan parliament must first establish an independent electoral authority, then establish the date for the referendum that Barzani made clear will end with the creation of a state.

Stephen Lari, a principal of Claremont Group, says the Kurdish region “represents the most stable, pro-U.S. component of Iraq.” Lari told FOX News that the on-the-ground situation for the Kurds is “very safe” and the local population is “pro-Western.” However, the threat to the Kurdish region from ISIS is very real.

“That situation has made things more difficult,” said Lari. “There is a large humanitarian issue with tens of thousands fleeing to a safe haven in Kurdistan.”

He suggests the Kurds might be moving closer to declaring an independent state. Critics, however, disagree, believing Kurdistan could not support itself.

Lari points out Iraqi Kurdistan has been a “de-facto nation” already since the establishment of no-fly zones after the first Gulf War.

What remains to be seen is how the military push by ISIS impacts the plans for a Kurdish independence vote.