ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The US Secretary of Defense has said that Monday’s rocket attack on Erbil confirms the importance of the country’s “continued work” in the region, welcoming NATO's decision to expand its training mission in Iraq.
"The recent rocket attack in Erbil underscores the importance of our continued work in the region," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday, according to a readout from the Pentagon.
Fourteen rockets hit various locations across Erbil on Monday night, killing one person and injuring 14.
Austin welcomed NATO’s decision to increase the number of its troops in Iraq to expand its training of Iraqi forces, stressing Washington's commitment to defeating the Islamic State (ISIS) and achieving regional stability. He also emphasized the importance of maintaining “ready forces” in Iraq to support NATO and respond to any emergencies, and to rebuild a "culture of readiness" in the region.
The Pentagon has hinted at possibilities of sending more US forces to Iraq as part of NATO’s expansion, despite consistent drawdowns in its presence in Iraq over the past year.
"The US is participating in the force generation process for NATO Mission Iraq and will contribute its fair share to this important expanded mission," Pentagon spokesperson Cmdr. Jessica L. McNulty told CNN on Thursday.
However, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby later denied that the US would be increasing its number of troops in the country.
We support NATO’s expanded mission in Iraq and will continue to do so, but there are no plans to increase U.S. force levels there.
— John Kirby (@PentagonPresSec) February 19, 2021
NATO will dramatically increase troop numbers in Iraq at the request of the Iraqi government to help fight terrorism, the head of the military alliance said in a press conference on Thursday.
"The size of our mission will increase from 500 personnel to around 4,000," Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said after a meeting with NATO defense ministers, adding that the move is "condition-based" and will be done incrementally.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on Tuesday spoke with Stoltenberg to discuss the military alliance's continued support for the Iraqi security and military institutions in forms of training, advising and intelligence cooperation, according to a statement from the PM's media office.
The presently Denmark-led NATO mission was set up in 2018 and has around 500 forces training Iraqi troops.
US troops have withdrawn from a number of Iraqi bases over the last year, which they say is part of a general repositioning in response to successes in the campaign to defeat ISIS and to protect personnel amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
US forces have come under repeated attack since Washington's assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in a January 2020 airstrike, also killing Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, the Iraqi deputy of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi).
Iraq's parliament passed a non-binding resolution in favor of expelling foreign troops after the US assassinations. Subsequent discussions included expanding NATO's role as a compromise.
Washington has previously threatened to withdraw all troops and close its Baghdad embassy if the Iraqi government fails to reign in Iran-backed militias, who have repeatedly targeted the embassy and Iraqi military bases hosting US-led coalition troops, as well as coalition-contracted convoys.
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