NATO will send a team to Iraq to assess whether it should resume training troops within the conflict-plagued country, the chief of the military alliance said Thursday, dpa reported. NATO agreed last July to once again start providing training to Iraqi forces, but has so far carried this out in neighbouring Jordan, offering advice on issues such as security sector reform, methods against explosive devices and military medicine. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has now asked NATO to expand the training mission into Iraq itself. The alliance's foreign ministers considered the request during talks in Brussels on Thursday. Local forces are needed to defeat the IS extremist group, he added.
