On Thursday 12 July, a NATO source told EUROPE that Iraq could be seen “as quite a model type of cooperation (between EU and NATO) in defence capability building for partner countries”.
The previous day, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had announced the launch of a non-combat mission for training and bolstering Iraqi capabilities, after the fashion of Alliance work in Afghanistan. He had said that the non-combat mission, launched further to a request from the Iraqi government, would be composed of “several hundred trainers” who will train teachers and trainers so that they may then take on the task of training the Iraqi soldiers themselves.
The Allies’ declaration reads: “Building upon our current training activities, NATO will advise relevant Iraqi officials, primarily in the Ministry of Defence and the Office of the National Security Advisor, and train and advise instructors at professional military education institutions to help Iraq develop its capacity to build more effective national security structures and professional military education institutions”. NATO will also create professional military schools and academies for the Iraqi forces.
The EU, for its part, launched a civilian CSDP mission in October 2017, responsible for assisting Iraqi authorities in implementing civilian aspects of Iraq’s national security strategy (see EUROPE 11884).
According to the NATO source, each organisation has its own ambition for helping reform in Iraq. “We must look at what NATO and the EU can do, what organisation is the best equipped”, the source said, before going on to explain that NATO would probably be working more on the military aspect with the Ministry of Defence whereas the EU may work with the Ministries of Justice or the Interior, on civilian aspects. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)