"The training of Peshmerga will continue just as it had been before. It will cover the areas of medicine and logistics. The second issue which was mentioned by the defense minister today will be an instructional mission in Baghdad," Faehnrich said at a briefing.
Earlier in the day, the German government proposed to prolong six Germany's overseas missions, including in Mali, Afghanistan, and as part of the US-led coalition against Daesh* in Syria and Iraq. German government spokesman Steffen Seibert specified that the country's contingent in Iraq would be reduced from 1,200 to 800 troops. The German Bundestag is yet to approve the cabinet proposals.
Despite Peshmerga's military success in the fight against Daesh, the relations between the Kurdish militia and the local Iraqi forces remain quite tense. During the parade after the Iraqi Army's victory over the terrorist group, declared on December 9 by the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the prime minister has failed to mention the Kurdish Peshmerga in his victory speech, which aroused swift condemnation from Kurdistan.
The Daesh terrorist group had kept Iraq under its control for several years, beginning in 2014, after seizing Mosul, the country's second-biggest city, and making it the terrorist group's so-called capital in Iraq, prompting the country's forces supported by the US-led coalition to launch an operation to free the territories a year later. In the summer of 2017, Iraqi forces regained control over the city, while later in November, over the town of Rawa, the last Daesh stronghold in the country.
READ MORE: War Correspondent: Armies of Iraq, Syria Deserve Credit for Daesh Defeat, Not US
German military instructors have been deployed in the north of Iraq since 2014, they are training the personnel of Kurdish paramilitary group Peshmerga, who fought against Daesh militants.
*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia
