WASHINGTON — The White House has announced it will send up to 450 additional US troops to Anbar province to assist training local forces fighting the Islamic State in Iraq.
"This train, advise and assist mission builds on lessons learned during the past several months and is just one aspect of our commitment to support the Iraqi Security Forces," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a Wednesday briefing.
According to the White House, the additional troops will have a “non-combat” role while deployed in Anbar.
Earnest added that US President Barack Obama also ordered expediting the delivery of necessary defense items to Iraqi forces.
The Pentagon said the deployment of the additional troops does not indicate a change of mission, but will expand training and advising activities in more locations in Iraq.
In a statement, the US Defense Department said the deployment of the new troops will be “at Taqaddum Air Base in support of the Government of Iraq.”
“The intent of this increase will be to provide personnel to assist with planning, integration and support of Iraqi Security Forces and tribal forces as they fight to retake the Ramadi and Fallujah corridor,” the statement added.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey told reporters Tuesday that Obama demanded recommendations to improve assisting and training Iraqi forces.
"What he's asked us to do is take a look at what we've learned over the last eight months in the train-and-equip program and make recommendations to him on whether there are capabilities that we may want to provide to the Iraqis to actually make them more capable," he said.
Last month, Iraqi troops were defeated in the Sunni city of Ramadi, leaving behind US weapons and equipment worth millions of dollars. The US called the capture of Ramadi a “setback” in the war against ISIS militants. Command problems, lack of leadership, communications, coordination and low morale were cited as reasons for the defeat of the Iraqi army in Anbar’s provincial capital.
News of more US boots on the ground comes amid heavy criticism by Republican lawmakers and some of Obama’s own Democrats that the administration has lacked a coherent strategy to tackle ISIS. Obama has refused to deploy US forces in combat roles against ISIS, insisting that Iraqis must stand up for themselves and take responsibility for their own fight.
The US has over 3,000 advisers in Iraq and has trained 9,000 Iraqi troops, including Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
Sunni leaders have been lobbying the US to form local Sunni forces to clear Sunni territories like Anbar of ISIS.
