American and British military forces led an invasion of Iraq in March 2003, marking the start the Second Iraq War. Kurdish "peshmerga" fighters assisted in the 2003 capture of Kirkuk. Though the "peshmerga" were allowed to operate even after the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) disbanded and outlawed most of the armed militias in Iraq, the "peshmerga" were eventually asked to withdraw from Kirkuk and other Kurdish held provinces.