Nato announces end of training mission in Iraq

Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Monday announced that a mission to train Iraqi security forces will end at the turn of the year. "The North Atlantic Council has decided to undertake the permanent withdrawal of the Nato Training Mission-Iraq personnel from Iraq by 31 December 2011," Rasmussen said in a statement.
The news provided confirmation after Iraq's top security adviser Falah al-Fayadh told AFP of the decision in an interview aboard a flight transporting Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to Washington. "Agreement on the extension of this successful programme did not prove possible despite robust negotiations conducted over several weeks," Rasmussen said. On November 29, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Iraq was studying a contract to extend Nato's presence in Iraq beyond year-end, but noted that such a deal would not grant its troops immunity from prosecution.