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NATO chief plans military academies for Iraqi forces
[ARABNEWS] The secretary general of NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
said the alliance plans to step up training of Iraq’s armed forces, including by setting up military academies.

Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that the goal of training is to ensure that ISIS "is never able to come back in the way we have seen before."

NATO is part of a global alliance that drove ISIS from large areas in Syria and Iraq.

After declaring victory over ISIS in December, Iraqi officials said they will focus on training the armed forces with the help of NATO and Western nations.

NATO troops staying in Iraq at Baghdad’s request, says chief

Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has stressed that troops of his military alliance is staying in Iraq at Baghdad’s request.

“We are here because Iraq wants us to be here, we are not here without the consent and without an invitation from Iraq,” Stoltenberg told AFP on the sidelines of visit to Iraq Monday.

“We should not stay longer than necessary, we will train the trainers as long as necessary to make sure IS (Islamic State) does not reemerge,” he said.

Stoltenberg’s comments come days after the Iraqi parliament called on the government to draw up a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country.

“The Iraqi parliament expresses its gratitude to all countries which have supported Iraq in its fight against Daesh (IS) and calls for the government to draw up a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops,” it said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred 2018-03-07
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=509623