TALLINN (Sputnik) — Estonia has been in talks with the United States and NATO partners about sending troops to fight Islamist militants in Iraq, according to Tsahkna.
"Estonia has already held consultations with the US and other partners on a broad anti-IS [Daesh, banned in Russia] coalition. Now that NATO has agreed at a summit to take more action against IS in Iraq, Estonia needs to weigh sending a combat unit to fight the terrorist group," Tsahkna told Estonia’s ERR broadcaster.
Estonia, a small NATO ally in Eastern Europe, sent a dozen of military personnel to Iraq in the past as part of the alliance’s mission to train local security forces. It parliament is considering dispatching five more medical and engineering instructors there soon.
At a summit in Brussels on Thursday, 28 NATO member states agreed to play a bigger role in the campaign against Daesh by joining forces with the US-led coalition, which is supporting an Iraqi security operation to retake Mosul.
