NATO leaders gathered at the Istanbul Summit have endorsed plans to provide support for the interim Iraqi government by training its security forces.

According to a June 28 fact sheet issued by the White House, the decision came in response to a request from Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

"The North Atlantic Council will develop on an urgent basis the modalities to implement this decision with the Iraqi Interim Government," said the fact sheet.

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Istanbul, Turkey)
June 28, 2004

FACT SHEET

Allied Contributions in Iraq

The contributions of individual NATO Allies as well as the support of the NATO Alliance as a whole has been vital to the ability of the Multinational Force to carry out its mission in Iraq.

NATO Allies. In addition to the large U.S. contributions in Iraq, 15 of the other 25 NATO Allies contribute more than 17,000 troops to Iraq stabilization operations.

-- The United Kingdom and Poland command multinational divisions in the Southeast and Central-South regions of Iraq, respectively.

-- Forces from NATO Allies make up almost the entire U.K.-led division, including the Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and Romania.

-- The Polish-led division includes national forces from such NATO Allies as Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, and Slovakia, as well as NATO Partners Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Estonia has forces in Baghdad and Al-Nasiriyah.

-- The numerous contributions from individual NATO Allies range from brigade headquarters and multiple battalions to engineering companies and cargo handlers.

NATO as an Alliance. At the request of the Government of Poland, NATO has provided assistance to the Polish-led Multinational Division Central-South since June 2003.

-- NATO has trained headquarters personnel, supported Polish logistics planning, helped establish secure satellite communications, and assisted with intelligence sharing.

-- NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe has supported Warsaw's force generation conferences.

Future Roles. Alliance leaders agreed today to offer NATO's assistance to the Government of Iraq with the training of its security forces, in response to a request from the Iraqi Interim Prime Minister. They therefore also encouraged Allied nations to contribute to the training of Iraqi armed forces.

The North Atlantic Council will develop on an urgent basis the modalities to implement this decision with the Iraqi Interim Government.

Allied leaders also asked the North Atlantic Council to consider, as a matter of urgency and on the basis of a report by the Secretary General, further proposals to support the nascent Iraqi security institutions in response to the request of the Interim Iraqi Government and in accordance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1546, which requests international and regional organizations to contribute assistance to the Multinational Force in Iraq.

In this regard, we look forward to follow-up discussions within NATO, and with the Iraqi Interim Government, on additional ways NATO might act to support security and the strengthening of a sovereign, democratic Iraq in the period leading up to national elections.