NATO to keep training Iraqi forces – Jens Stoltenberg
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NATO will continue its training support for Iraq’s armed forces, alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.
NATO will continue its training support for Iraq’s armed forces, alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.
“At the request of the Iraqi government, NATO is planning to scale up its support with a new training mission in Iraq.
“We will continue to train the trainers, and help the Iraqi government to establish specialist military academies and schools,’’ Stoltenberg said in a statement on the NATO website.
On Monday, Stoltenberg made a visit to Iraq, where he toured training facilities at Besmaya base, south of Baghdad.
In Baghdad, he met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
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According to the statement, they discussed the security situation and ways to strengthen cooperation between NATO and Iraq.
Stoltenberg praised the Iraqi forces, which are backed by a global coalition, for succeeding in defeating the Islamic State group in that country.
He stressed that those gains must be maintained.
NATO is part of the U.S.-led alliance that drove the Islamic State from large areas in Syria and Iraq in 2017.
Iraq declared victory against Islamic State in December with the help of the alliance, having retaken all the territory captured by the militants in 2014 and 2015.
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