PM commits Diggers
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott says he’ll formally commit Australian troops to a new training mission in Iraq once some outstanding processes are finalised.
Mr Abbott did not say just where the problems lay but did say the announcement could come as soon as next Tuesday.
This could relate to finalising legal protections for Australian soldiers in Iraq.
The deployment of Australia’s 200-member special forces team into Iraq last year was delayed while the agreement with the Iraqi government was negotiated.
New Zealand, whose deployment of up to 143 soldiers to the training mission was announced on Tuesday, faces the same problem. Mr Abbott has certainly discussed this mission with his Iraqi counterpart Haider Al-Abadi.
“PM Al-Abadi received a phone call from Australian PM Tony Abbott. Discussed military co-operation including training of Iraqi Security For- ces,” the Iraqi leader tweeted yesterday.
Mr Abbott, in Auckland for talks with NZ Prime Minister John Key, said he was delighted NZ was on board and prepared to play its part in the wider world.
“This will be a modest but further step against the death cult. Should we finalise our processes as I expect in the next few days, it will be good to have our Kiwi partners with us,” he said.
Mr Key announced on Tuesday his country’s soldiers would be part of a 400-member training team deploying for an initial nine-month period starting in May.
They will operate at Taji, a logistics base about 30km north of Baghdad.
Most of the Australian and NZ soldiers bound for Iraq won’t actually train Iraqi troops. The joint team will contain a substantial security force to protect the trainers from insider or IS attack.