KABUL: (Middle East Press) The Iraqi Prime Minster has said that any deployment of foreign troops on its soil cannot happen without approval of his government.
The remarks by Haider al-Abadi came in response to the earlier announcement by Ashton Carter, the US defence secretary, that the US will deploy “specialised” troops to Iraq to help fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.
“We do not need foreign ground combat forces on Iraqi land,” Haider al-Abbadi said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The Iraqi government stresses that any military operation or the deployment of any foreign forces – special or not – in any place in Iraq cannot happen without its approval and coordination and full respect of Iraqi sovereignty.”
Speaking to the House Armed Services Committee, the Pentagon chief had said a “specialised expeditionary targeting force” was being deployed to help Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
“In full coordination with the government of Iraq, we’re deploying a specialised expeditionary targeting force to assist Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces and to put even more pressure on ISIL,” Carter said on Tuesday.
