U.S. details major military assistance to Kurdish forces

Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States has disclosed military assistance to the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq.

The State Department said the U.S. military has airlifted thousands of weapons, mortars and other munitions to KRG forces, called Peshmerga. Officials said Washington has also overseen the training of Kurdish troops in northern Iraq to reverse the gains of Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.

“We’re supporting with a range of assistance, we’re coordinating the efforts of the coalition, and we’re doing that through the central government of Iraq,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

In a briefing on Feb. 9, Ms. Psaki said the United States has supplied more than three million pounds of equipment in more than 60 cargo flights to Irbil, the capital of Kurdistan, Middle East Newsline reported. She said the equipment included 18,000 assault rifles, 45,000 mortar rounds, 15,000 hand grenades and nearly 40 million rounds of light and heavy machine gun ammunition.

“I could keep going on and on,” Ms. Psaki said.

The State Department also said the U.S. military has been training KRG forces. Ms. Psaki did not elaborate.

Officials said all U.S. weapons to KRG were being coordinated with the Baghdad government. They said U.S. weapons shipments to the Kurds were being supplied in cooperation with other coalition partners in the war against ISIL.

“We have coordinated a coalition effort, including the Germans, to provide weapons,” Ms. Psaki said. “This includes heavy weapons and other equipment, including mortars, T-62 tank rounds for their over 100 existing tanks, vehicles, and counter-IED equipment.”

Congress has expressed dissatisfaction over the pace of U.S. supplies to KRG. Sen. Ted Cruz said Washington was sending weapons to Baghdad, which was then holding up transfer to KRG.

“Instead, they’re shuttling it all to Baghdad, and Baghdad is very slow in getting it to the Kurds,” Cruz said.

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