NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is holding a press conference on February 15, 2021, ahead of NATO defense ministers’ meetings at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
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WASHINGTON – NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Thursday that the 30-member alliance will expand its security training mission in Iraq to prevent the war-torn country from becoming a safe haven for international terrorists.
“The size of our mission will increase from 500 employees to about 4,000, and training activities will now include more Iraqi security institutions and areas beyond Baghdad,” Stoltenberg told reporters at a virtual meeting of NATO defense ministers. days.
“Our presence is based on conditions and the increase in the number of troops will be incremental,” he said, adding that the request for an extended mission was requested by the Iraqi government.
Earlier this week, a senior defense official told reporters ahead of the NATO meeting that the Pentagon was “enthusiastic and enjoying NATO’s increased focus on Iraq.” The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not disclose whether the US military was ready to contribute more troops to the Iraq training mission.
The United States has 2,500 troops in Iraq.
“ISIS is still operating in Iraq and we need to make sure that they will not be able to return,” Stoltenberg said on Thursday, adding that the alliance has seen a slight increase in attacks.
The decision to expand NATO’s footprint in Iraq comes following a deadly rocket attack in the city of Irbil.
A worker cleans the broken glass on February 16, 2021 outside a shop damaged by a rocket attack the night before in Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish autonomous region of Iraq.
Safin Hamed | AFP | Getty Images
Monday’s attack claimed the life of a civilian entrepreneur and injured nine others, including a member of the US service, according to US Army Colonel Wayne Marotto, a spokesman for the coalition fighting ISIS.
A Shiite group called Awliya Al Dam has claimed responsibility for the attack and is believed to be a front for an Iranian-backed militia group. The White House, the Pentagon and the State Department have not publicly confirmed who is behind the attack.
The State Department promised on Wednesday to impose consequences on those responsible, but provided few details.
“We will not preview a response, but it is fair to say that there will be consequences for any group responsible for this attack,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters during a press briefing.
“Any response we take will be in full coordination with the Iraqi government and our coalition partners,” he added.
A day after the attack, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the White House was “outraged” by the violence in Iraq.
Psaki also said that the Biden administration is working with partners in the region to conduct an investigation into the attack.