Britain says it is ‘committed’ to supporting Kurdish Peshmerga

“We are committed to supporting the Iraqi Security Forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga in countering the threat from Da’esh.”

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Britain’s secretary of defense has said the United Kingdom will continue to support Iraqi Security Forces, including the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces.

“We are committed to supporting the Iraqi Security Forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga in countering the threat from Da’esh,” UK Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Mark Lancaster, said during a parliament session on Oct. 22, using the Arabic acronym for the so-called Islamic State.

The UK is one of the leading members of the Global Coalition against the Islamic State. It has provided training as well as military support to Peshmerga and ISF in the battle against the terror group.

Lancaster’s comments came in response to a question from MP Jack Lopresti, who asked about the role of British troops in training and equipping Iraqi and Kurdish security forces amid regional developments, which includes a partial US withdrawal from Syria.

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Lopresti was among a group of parliamentarians from the UK who recently visited the Kurdistan Region and praised the autonomous Kurdish region for its progress toward becoming an example of liberal democracy in the Middle East.

The UK delegation consisted of members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Kurdistan Region (APPG): Chairman and Conservative MP Lopresti, Labour MPs Toby Perkins and Steve Reed, and APPG Secretary Gary Kent.

The delegation traveled across the Kurdistan Region, where they met with senior Kurdish officials and leaders from different parties.

Since 2008, the APPG has organized 16 trips to the Kurdistan Region to further improve ties between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the UK government.