Germany is planning to reduce the number of its military personnel and advisors in Kurdistan by 50, announced Germany's defense minister Ursula von der Leyen.
Von der Leyen met with officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), including Interior Minister and acting Peshmerga Minister Karim Sinjari, in Erbil on Monday.
"All in all ... we had over the last mandate we had 150, now we will more focus on the specialists, so we will go down to a number that is below 100,” von der Leyen told reporters in a joint press conference.
The German minister visited the region in February, and said that the end of the war against ISIS in Iraq does not mean the achievement of full stability in the region.
Von der Leyen pointed out that the mission will change, noting the first phase was the acute fight against ISIS.
"We were deeply impressed with what the Peshmerga were able to do... Now, it is the time to establish sustainable structures in the ministry of defense with the Peshmerga,” she added.
Germany was among the first countries that provided important military and logistical assistance to the Peshmerga forces since the beginning of its war against ISIS. It also supplied the forces with weapons that helped them during the war. Total military assistance provided by other European countries to Peshmerga reached about $65 million.
