ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The German parliament on Wednesday approved a government motion which asked for the extension of its military mission in Iraq for an additional year. Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani welcomed the move. Last month, the German government decided to keep their armed forces deployed in Iraq until October 31, 2024, sending a motion to the parliament for approval. The German Bundestag on Wednesday convened and approved the motion. Germany has been an essential member of the global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS). The Coalition was formally established in October 2014, after ISIS took control of vast swathes of territories in Iraq and Syria. Consisting of 84 nations, the US-led Coalition’s mission has been “degrading and ensuring Daesh’s enduring defeat,” it says on its website, using Arabic acronym for the extremist group. “I convey my gratitude to the government and parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany for extending the mandate of their troops in Iraq,” said President Barzani in a post on X, previously Twitter. “We still face a common threat, and together, we will ensure the lasting defeat of ISIS,” he added. ISIS swept through large parts of Iraq in 2014, seizing vast swathes of land and committing countless atrocities, including genocide. The group was territorially defeated in 2017 but it continues to pose serious security risks in the country through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions, particularly in the disputed areas between Baghdad and Erbil. Weapons provided by Germany, especially the guided anti-tank MILAN missiles, were very essential in Peshmerga forces’ fight against the terror group. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said last week that Iraq is not a safe country. “We have just renewed this mission because we realized from the recent events, the efforts to seize the Swedish embassy, that the situation is not really calm. I am glad that the prime minister [Sudani] sees it that way, but it was himself who said that they need military support for maintaining security. To bring about stability, the federal parliament did the right thing by extending this mission,” he said. Hundreds of Iraqi protesters in July stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad and set it on fire after Swedish police approved more burnings of the Quran.
