Ahmed Mohammad Barzani, also known as Khudan, was the head of the Barzani tribe in Kurdistan. Sheikh Ahmed is considered to be the architect of Barzani rule in Iraqi Kurdistan. He was a Kurdish nationalist who brought many different Kurdish tribes under his command and expanded the Barzan region. Along with his younger brother Mustafa Barzani, he fought against the Iraqi government in the 1920s and 1930s.

Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in West Asia, which also includes parts of southeastern Turkey, northern Syria, and northwestern Iran. Much of the geographical and cultural region of Iraqi Kurdistan is part of the Kurdistan Region (KRI), an autonomous region recognized by the Constitution of Iraq. As with the rest of Kurdistan, and unlike most of the rest of Iraq, the region is inland and mountainous.