Baghdad will not send its troops abroad for military training as doing so would contradict the Iraqi decision to expel foreign forces from the country, Iraqi Ambassador to Tehran Saad Jawad Qandil told Sputnik, adding that Iraq was ready to be a platform for foreign troops' military experience to combat terrorism
TEHRAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th January, 2020) Baghdad will not send its troops abroad for military training as doing so would contradict the Iraqi decision to expel foreign forces from the country, Iraqi Ambassador to Tehran Saad Jawad Qandil told Sputnik, adding that Iraq was ready to be a platform for foreign troops' military experience to combat terrorism.
"I do not think that it is possible, as this is against the parliament's decision to remove all foreign forces from Iraq," Qandil said when asked if Iraqi forces might be sent to Russia or China for training.
According to the ambassador, the Iraqi forces' experience in fighting against terrorist organizations, including the Islamic State group (IS, banned in Russia), is sufficient and does not need to be supplemented by training from foreign troops.
"On the contrary, Iraq is ready to train [other] countries' forces that could be affected by terrorist attacks," he said.
The Iraqi Council of Representatives decided to expel foreign troops from the country after the US killed one of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' top generals, Qasem Soleimani, and Abu Mahdi Muhandis, the deputy commander of the Iraqi Shia militia, near the Baghdad International Airport on January 3.
The international coalition against the IS was formed in 2014 after the terrorist group captured vast territories in Iraq and Syria. The coalition assisted Iraq in conducting military operations against IS terrorists, leading to Iraq declaring victory over the terrorist group in 2017.
