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Iraq
Geraldine Gassam Griffith, US state department spokesperson, speaks to Rudaw on July 27, 2021. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The global coalition against the Islamic State group (ISIS) has trained more than 300,000 Iraqi soldiers since 2014, a spokesperson for the US State Department told Rudaw on Tuesday.
Geraldine Gassam Griffith, one of the department’s principal Arabic-language spokespeople, told Rudaw’s Shaho Amin that this training was done as part of the coalition mission.
ISIS controlled swathes of Syrian and Iraqi land in 2014. The global coalition, led by the US, was formed to assist Iraq in battling the terror group, which was declared territorially defeated in the country in 2017.
Griffith said Iraqi forces are capable of maintaining security as the US formally changes its mission from combat to advisory by the end of the year.
“This stage is not about withdrawal, but development of partnership so that the Peshmerga forces and Iraqi security forces are able to face challenges in the future in Iraq,” she said.
US President Joe Biden received Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in Washington on Monday to wrap up strategic talks between the US and Iraq. The two sides agreed on a timeline for shifting the US role in Iraq: the “security relationship will fully transition to a training, advising, assisting, and intelligence-sharing role, and that there will be no U.S. forces with a combat role in Iraq by December 31, 2021.”
Kadhimi told state media late Tuesday that their coordination with the US “will not be limited to security,” but other fields as well.
Geraldine Gassam Griffith, one of the department’s principal Arabic-language spokespeople, told Rudaw’s Shaho Amin that this training was done as part of the coalition mission.
ISIS controlled swathes of Syrian and Iraqi land in 2014. The global coalition, led by the US, was formed to assist Iraq in battling the terror group, which was declared territorially defeated in the country in 2017.
Griffith said Iraqi forces are capable of maintaining security as the US formally changes its mission from combat to advisory by the end of the year.
“This stage is not about withdrawal, but development of partnership so that the Peshmerga forces and Iraqi security forces are able to face challenges in the future in Iraq,” she said.
US President Joe Biden received Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in Washington on Monday to wrap up strategic talks between the US and Iraq. The two sides agreed on a timeline for shifting the US role in Iraq: the “security relationship will fully transition to a training, advising, assisting, and intelligence-sharing role, and that there will be no U.S. forces with a combat role in Iraq by December 31, 2021.”
Kadhimi told state media late Tuesday that their coordination with the US “will not be limited to security,” but other fields as well.
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