WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — NATO has yet to decide the exact number of troops to deploy on the ground in Afghanistan in 2018.
"We haven’t decided exact troop levels for 2018," Stoltenberg stated. "The current troop level is around 13,000 NATO troops in our train, assist and advise mission."
When it comes to Iraq, Stoltenberg said that the bloc has not made any decisions about training Kurdish Peshmerga in Iraq.
The number of NATO troops in Afghanistan will be decided later this year, Stoltenberg added.
"Several NATO allies are training [and] providing support to the Peshmerga," Stoltenberg told reporters. "NATO has not so far provided any training for the Peshmerga…It is too early to say whether that can be an issue."
Earlier, Stoltenberg announced NATO would officially join the US-led coalition against Daesh terror group (banned in Russia) as its 69th member.
There are currently 8,400 US troops and 5,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan, and US officials are debating deploying between 3,000-5,000 more to assist the 350,000 Afghan security forces on the ground.
