BRUSSELS – NATO To Strengthen Presence In Iraq. Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, on Monday, announced to expand the alliance’s training mission in Iraq. This was a response to US President Donald Trump’s demand for more action from allies in the Middle East.
The plan is for NATO to take on some personnel and training activities against the Islamic State group. “Today we have made the decision in principle. Meanwhile, we will continue to work on the details and the numbers and exactly what kind of activities,” Stoltenberg said.
Trump called on NATO to do more in the Middle East back in January. This was days after a US drone strike against a top Iranian commander in Baghdad sparked a regional crisis. Meanwhile, the January 3 strike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani sparked outrage in Baghdad. While resulting a vote by the Iraqi parliament to oust all foreign troops. NATO To Strengthen Presence In Iraq.
NATO officials feel the alliance could make it more effective by bringing greater structure and coordination. Owing to its experience of training forces in Afghanistan. This could involve extending geographically outside NATO’s current three training zones or adding more training activities.
As a longer-term objective, NATO is looking to see what it could do elsewhere in the Middle East as well as North Africa to improve stability and fight terrorism by training local forces.