Iran has deployed 5,000 military forces in the northwest of the country along its common border with the Iraqi Kurdistan region. According to an informed source, these forces are fully equipped and have been stationed along the Sardasht border with Iraqi Kurdistan. The purpose of the deployment is holding military maneuvers with the aim of stabilizing the border area and fighting counterrevolutionary groups. Recently, a senior Iranian military commander said with the support of the US, President of Iraqi Kurdistan Massoud Barzani had dedicated 300,000 hectares (three million square kilometers) of the region's lands to the terrorist Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK). The group is using these lands to carry out anti-Iran military activities, the Iranian commander said. PJAK is an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is known as a terrorist group by much of the international community, including the US. PKK has been fighting the Turkish government since 1984 for an independent state in southeastern Turkey. Both terrorist organizations are stationed in the mountainous border areas in Iraqi Kurdistan. They use the contributions made to them by Iraqi Kurds to penetrate Iranian soil and carry out bombings and terrorist activities.