NATO is ready to expand its military training effort in Iraq, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, but the Iraqi government has not yet approved the move.
The Canada-led NATO training mission in Iraq was launched in 2018 but suspended last month after a U.S. missile strike at Baghdad Airport killed the Iranian regime’s top military official, Qassem Soleimani, and Iraq’s Parliament demanded that foreign troops leave. President Donald Trump asked NATO on Jan. 8 to become more involved with the Middle East after Iran fired missiles at Iraqi bases hosting U.S. troops the day before.
The NATO plan now is to move hundreds of trainers working with the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in Iraq to NATO’s mission of helping to build up the Iraqi army to the point that it will be able to maintain stability and security in the country on its own. No additional NATO personnel would be deployed to the strife-torn country.
Stoltenberg said that all NATO activities would be closely coordinated with the Iraqi government, and he remains in close contact with the country’s leaders. “NATO is in Iraq on the invitation of the Iraqi government. And we will only stay in Iraq as long as we are welcome,” he said. However, when asked why there was no formal approval from the Iraqi government authorizing the move, Stoltenberg reiterated what he had said. The move of the training activities can only be done “with the consent of the Iraqis,” he added.
The question remains whether countries will increase their military contribution and move their activities from the Global Coalition to the NATO mission in Iraq. “Several Allies, or all Allies, actually, supported the decision to do more and also to take over some of the activities which is today conducted by the U.S.-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS,” Stoltenberg said.
A reduction of U.S. forces in Iraq would allow the United States to right-size forces in other theaters, the Indo-Pacific area in particular, in accord with the National Defense Strategy, he added.