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The Washington Times (29 May 2018)

By Carlo Muñoz

The Pentagon is working behind-the-scenes on a plan to get NATO allies to play a far more significant, boots-on-the-ground role in maintaining security in Iraq as the U.S. military revamps its anti-Islamic State mission into a longer-term stabilization campaign.

Pentagon sources have told The Washington Times that Defense Secretary James N. Mattis intends to present the plan at a NATO meeting in Brussels next month, calling for a larger number of troops from the alliance to support the new mission.

U.S. officials say the overhaul, which has not yet been made public, would reshape the Iraq mission into a longer-term, more advisory and more multinational campaign akin to current American-led operations in Afghanistan, with a central focus on further bolstering Iraq’s own security forces.

While details, including the potentially increased NATO role, are still being hammered out by senior strategists around Mr. Mattis, several officials told The Times that the goal will be to ensure Iraqi troops have the heft and training needed to battle back remaining elements of the terror group known as the Islamic State, as well as other extremists seeking to gain a future foothold in Iraq.

Pentagon officials and their State Department counterparts heading up the counter-Islamic State coalition led by Washington are coordinating ahead of Mr. Mattis’ impending visit to the NATO headquarters, according to one Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/may/29/james-mattis-pentagon-push-nato-more-troops-iraq/