NATO allies agreed on Friday on a package of measures to help strengthen Iraqi security and defense forces, including in the fields of military training, demining and countering improvised explosive devices.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the aid program, approved by the alliance’s 28 member nations, is designed to help Iraq by providing support in areas where NATO “is best placed to add value.”
Independent analysts said beefing up Iraqi defense capabilities would also contribute to stabilising the southern border of Turkey, a NATO member, and boost the military campaign being waged by a US-led coalition to defeat the Islamic State group.
On Tuesday, NATO ambassadors held an emergency meeting at Turkey’s request on the threat posed by ISIS and the counter
measures Turkey has been taking in response.
Bruno lete, senior program officer for foreign and security policy at the German Marshall Fund, a Brussels