The Pentagon Press Briefing Room seal as seen March 27, 2020, Washington, D.C. (DoDo photo by Lisa Ferdinando)

By Gary Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

U.S. Soldiers Will Not Be Part of a NATO Deployment of  3,500 additional troops To Iraq, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters Tuesday.  Last week, Alliance defense ministers  agreed to raise the number of troops for the NATO Mission in Iraq from 500 to 4,000.  NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg  made the announcement during a virtual news conference.  The announcement came  just days after a civilian contractor was killed and eight others were wounded in a rocket attack  at a U.S.-led military base in Kurdish northern Iraq. It was the deadliest attack against U.S.-led forces for almost a year in Iraq.   The Pentagon made it clear Tuesday that U.S. troops would not be involved. 

“…while we certainly support NATO’s expanded mission — the training mission in — in Iraq and we recognize that there’s a force generation process that goes along with that, there are no plans to put additional U.S. forces in Iraq to contribute to that expanded mission. There are, as you know, many ways we can contribute to — to mission sets without having to necessarily put more, to use the phrase, boots on the ground, that there are ways to contribute that — that don’t necessarily mean an increase in — in footprint.”

-Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said at press conference February 23, 2021. 

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III participated in the NATO virtual meeting for the United States.  The NATO chief said Ministers agreed to expand the scope of the NATO mission, following Iraq’s request, in order to support the Iraqi forces as they fight terrorism and ensure that ISIS does not return.  According to the NATO secretary general,  the mission will continue to be carried out with full respect for Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and in close coordination with the Global Coalition.  The NATO chief explained that the purpose of the IRAQ Training Mission, or the capacity-building mission by NATO in Iraq,  is to prevent a situation where NATO Allies, again, may be forced into a situation where they need to be part of bigger combat operations.