“The training provided by the coalition to Iraqi and Kurdish units has proved to be of great value. But as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Defence and the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation have affirmed, the fight is not over yet,” reads a statement on the ministry’s website.
“The Netherlands will therefore continue to provide military training in Iraq.”
Brett McGurk, US presidential envoy to the global anti-ISIS coalition, welcomed the Netherlands’s announcement on his Twitter.
He stated that 6,500 Iraqi security personnel are being trained by coalition partners this week, and more than 30,000 have been trained to date, and commended their success on the battlefields.
“Iraqi Security Forces have not lost a single engagement against #ISIL in the past 12 months. Momentum now building for #Mosul,” he tweeted.
The Dutch military has also pledged to continue participating in the air campaign against ISIS where they provide protection for Belgian F-16s, and they have committed a tanker aircraft to carry out air-to-air refueling of fighter jets.
The Netherlands has trained Peshmerga troops and supplied equipment such as radios, bomb disposal equipment, helmets, and vests.
Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, visited the Kurdistan Region in August and met with Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani.
