First public comment about NATO decision about Iraq

Shafaq News/ A member of Iraq’s Parliamentary Security and Defense Committee commented, on Thursday; on NATO decision to expand its training mission in Iraq from 500 to around 4,000 personnel.

"NATO forces are not fighting troops; instead they are supportive forces whose mission is to train and to provide logistical support and military assistance for the Iraqi forces such as vehicles and weapons..." MP Kata’a Al-Rikabi told Shafaq News Agency.

Al-Rikabi pointed out that "the Iraqi executive authority will have to put the number of NATO personnel it needs, and the support it wants in Iraq."

Today, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance will expand its training mission in Iraq from 500 to around 4,000 personnel.

“Today, we decided to expand NATO’s training mission in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces as they fight terrorism and ensure that ISIS does not return,” he said in a press conference after the meetings of NATO Defense Ministers.

 “Training activities will now include more Iraqi security institutions, and areas beyond Baghdad,” Stoltenberg,” he added.

Stoltenberg said on Wednesday he spoke with Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi who “expressed once again the strong support and wish from the Iraqi government to have an expanded, increased NATO presence there.”

The NATO established an “advisory, training and capacity-building” mission in Iraq in October 2018, to help the Middle Eastern country quell the threat of terrorist group ISIS.