(21 Jan 2020) NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday that the alliance must beef up its military training operation in Iraq to ensure that its member countries are not drawn back into combat there against the Islamic State group (IS). NATO agreed in 2018 to launch a training mission in Iraq involving around 500 troops with the aim of building up the country's armed forces so they could better combat extremist groups like IS.
But the operation was put on hold after a US missile strike at Baghdad airport killed Iran's top general early this month and the Iraq government demanded that foreign troops leave its territory.
As tensions mounted, US President Donald Trump insisted that NATO should do more in the region.
However, there is little appetite among European allies and Canada to deploy troops even though the United States is by far the biggest and most influential of the 29 NATO member countries.
While acknowledging that he opposed the Iraq war as a Norwegian lawmaker in 2003, Stoltenberg said Tuesday that he thought "the West left a bit too early" and that IS took advantage by seizing vast swathes of territory in northern Iraq and Syria.
Stoltenberg has held talks in recent days with senior Iraqi officials and King Abdullah of neighbouring Jordan amid cautious optimism that NATO might be permitted to resume its training activities in Iraq in the near future.
Find out more about AP Archive:
Twitter:
Facebook:
Google+:
Tumblr:
Instagram:
You can license this story through AP Archive:
0 Comments