In an effort to deal with the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq, President Obama will send upto a maximum of 450 troops according to government officials.
In explaining the objective of the mission, spokesperson Josh Earnest said, “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.”
In addition, Obama has also ordered for the quick delivery of “essential equipment and materials” to the Iraqi forces so as to reclaim the territory captured by the Islamic State.
Apart from this, the goal of sending these 450 trainers involves stopping the influx of fighters in and out of Iraq and into neighboring Syria. Also, an additional objective is to get more Sunni muslims to negate the gains made by the Shiite-controlled Islamic State.
With this announcement made, the total number of U.S personnel in Iraq amounts to 3550 – all of whom are involved in some form of training projects or the other.
One reason for this is because the Iraqi government want U.S troop advisers to reach out to the Sunni population in the country, according to Pentagon spokesperson, Army Colonel Steve Warren. It will take about six to eight weeks for the troops to carry out this mission.
The United States is also carrying out bombing missions apart from aerial reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering missions too.
What has also made clear by spokesmen is that these troops are not being sent into Iraq to engage in enemy combat but to train and assist the Iraqi government and its troops.