NATO begins IED training course in Iraq

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – NATO on Sunday confirmed the start of a new training program in Iraq to teach Iraqi security forces how to handle the threat of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED).

The intergovernmental military alliance revealed nearly 30 enlisted soldiers were involved in the first five-week course.

The organization aims to bolster the Iraqi security forces’ ability to counter the efforts of the Islamic State (IS), according to NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

“NATO’s training and capacity building in Iraq is strengthening the country’s ability to fight [IS] and provide for its own security,” he said.

Additionally, NATO allies are supplying equipment, including protective gear, to Iraqi forces participating in the training.

In a statement on their official website, NATO said the “counter-IED training scheme [would] run alongside NATO-run courses in Iraq on civil-military cooperation.”

Advisor’s from the military alliance have been working in Iraq since the start of the New Year “overseeing training activities and working with the Iraqi authorities to reform their security institutions.”

“NATO has been training Iraqi security forces in several areas including counter-IED, explosive advance disposal, and de-mining,” the statement added.

Moreover, the Secretary General pointed to the importance of training programs for Iraqi forces in the fight against IS.

“The best weapon we have in the fight against terrorism is to train local forces,” Stoltenberg said.

“A more effective Iraqi military means a safer Iraq, and a more stable Middle East,” he concluded.

On Oct. 17, 2016, Iraqi security forces and Kurdish Peshmerga launched a campaign to liberate Mosul from IS, the insurgent group’s last stronghold in the country.

Since then, the forces have freed several villages and are on course to defeat the extremist group.