US, Britain continue arming, training Peshmerga

ERBIL, Kurdistan (K24) -  US and Britain military advisors assist the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is carrying out necessary reforms in the Ministry of Peshmerga creating a more unified Peshmerga force with a single and unified command.

According to Jabar Yawar, Peshmerga Secretary-General, all Peshmerga brigades  will receive proper training and new weapons by  the US-led international coalition, especially arms from the US and Great Britain. “The Administrative Council for Peshmerga Affairs will resume the process of unifying all Peshmerga forces, “Yawar told Turkey's  Anadolu Agency.

Yawar also said that the US government will allocate $200 million as part of military assistance to Peshmerga forces in 2016.

Yawar also said that reforms will begin within the Ministry of Peshmerga and the ministrywill undergo reforms in order to unify Peshmerga forces which will be supervised by US and British military advisors.

“The US government will provide Peshmerga forces with new weapons but it is not known yet when these weapons will be delivered to the Kurdistan Region,” Brigadier General Qaraman Kamal, Deputy Chief of Operations Board, told K24. 

Westa Rasool, a Peshmerga commander on the Kirkuk front said that there is a good coordination between Peshmerga forces and the US-led international coalition against the Islamic state. “The international coalition will start training two brigades of Peshmerga forces soon,” he told K24.

(Hunar Ahmed from Kirkuk contributed to this report)