NATO agrees on support package for Iraq to strengthen security, defense sectors

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg addresses the media after a North Atlantic Council Meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday July 28, 2015. For just the fifth time in its 66-year history, NATO ambassadors met in emergency session Tuesday to gauge the threat the Islamic State extremist group poses to Turkey, and the debated actions Turkish authorities are taking in response. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert) (The Associated Press)

BRUSSELS – NATO allies have agreed on a package of measures to help strengthen Iraqi security and defense forces, including in the fields of military training, demining and countering improvised explosive devices.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the aid program, approved Friday by NATO member nations, is designed to help Iraq by providing support in areas where NATO "is best placed to add value."

Stoltenberg said the assistance program was developed at Iraq's request, and in close consultation with Iraqi authorities.

NATO plans to help Iraq in seven priority areas. They include advising on security sector reforms, civil military planning, cyber defense, military medicine and civil emergency planning.

Stoltenberg said NATO and Iraqi experts will now work out details of the training programs, which will be held in Turkey and Jordan.