Nato offers to train fledgling Iraqi forces
Nato today offered to help train Iraq’s fledgling armed forces just hours after US authorities surprised allies with the early transfer of power to the new administration in Baghdad.
The allied leaders agreed to help with training in response to a request from the incoming Iraqi government.
“We are united in our support for the Iraqi people and offer full cooperation to the new sovereign interim government as it seeks to strengthen internal security,” said a statement adopted in the opening session of the two-day summit in Istanbul.
The Nato leaders also agreed to expand the alliance’s peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan by sending in more than 3,000 troops to bolster security in the run-up to and aftermath of elections scheduled in September. They will set up permanent military teams in four more cities.
Nato agreed to end its peacekeeping operation in Bosnia after nine years, handing responsibility for the 7,500-strong mission to the European Union at the end of the year.
Iraq dominated the summit, which opened as the US-led administration handed over power to an Iraqi government 48 hours ahead of schedule in a surprise development apparently aimed at preventing insurgents from disrupting the transfer.
“The Iraqi people have their country back,” said US President George Bush.
“Fifteen months after the liberation of Iraq and two days ahead of schedule, the world witnessed the arrival of a full sovereign and free Iraq.”
The Nato summit declared “we have decided today to offer Nato’s assistance to the government of Iraq with the training of its security forces.” The statement said allies would “consider, as a matter of urgency ... further proposals to support the nascent Iraqi security institutions.”
American officials accompanying Bush at the summit expressed optimism that the early transfer of power in Iraq would strengthen the new government’s hand to deal with rampant violence and the threat of terrorism.
“We will challenge these elements in Iraq, the antidemocratic elements, by even bringing the handover of sovereignty before June 30 as a sign we are ready for it,” Iraq’s interim Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said after meeting Tony Blair on the sidelines of the Nato meeting.
The Nato summit said allies would “consider, as a matter of urgency ... further proposals to support the Iraqi security institutions.”
Outside the meeting, hundreds of protesters hurled fire-bombs and stones at police as the demonstrators tried to reach the conference centre. Police used tear gas and water cannons to stop the crowd, and dozens of people were injured. On Sunday, a peaceful protest drew 40,000 people.
Turkish security forces sealed off large sections of the country’s biggest city because of fears of terrorist attacks and violent protests. Fighter planes flew overhead and 23,000 police and security forces patrolled the streets.
It was not clear how many Nato instructors would be sent to Iraq or when they would leave. The leaders called on their representatives to work out the details “on an urgent basis” with the Iraqi leadership.
“It is the Iraqi government ... and only the Iraqi government that is going to decide” on the training, said Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
Despite their speed in agreeing to the training, allies remain divided over how to go ahead with the plan.
The United States would like a major allied operation in Iraq, run by a Nato headquarters based in the country. France and Germany want a lower-profile operation with Nato playing a coordinating role for national training programmes.
Both countries said they would not send military instructors to Iraq, preferring to train officers outside the country.
Nato officials said the alliance may start out by offering instruction to senior Iraqi officers at elite allied military schools in Rome and Oberammergau, Germany, and then expand to include training in Iraq.
“A formal Nato presence in Iraq is possible,” said a senior Nato official.
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