Officials said the Kurdish military, or Peshmerga, has been training
with the Iraq Army in combat and support operations. They said the U.S.
military was promoting the Kurdish training to bolster security in northern
Iraq, a stronghold of the Kurdish Workers Party.
"The Kurds were learning all aspects of military training," an official
said.
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On Sept. 15, 33 Kurdish soldiers graduated from the Iraq Army Engineer
School at Camp Taji. The Kurdish cadets spent 30 days learning combat
engineering skills, including route clearance as well as mine identification
and detection.
The Kurds were also learning to operate combat platforms, including the
Badger light armored vehicle. Officials said the Kurds were taught mounted
and dismounted route clearance as well as using mine-detecting robots.
"Our knowledge of engineering has grown tremendously through this
training," Lt. Dulshad Ibrahim Dulshad, a Kurdish Army engineer, said.
"We have increased our ability to properly sustain others with the training
we've conducted in the past 30 days here."
Officials said the Iraq Army would continue with the training of Kurds
for at least the next year. They said some of the latest graduates would
continue training in specialized engineering tasks.
"I am excited about the possibility of them coming back in the future
for training," Lt. Raad Abd Durga said.
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