“Portugal has already shown availability in terms of time, if necessary, to reconfigure its commitment and increase it. We are still available. This requires a clear definition by all elements of the Organisation. When this definition is clearer, I will be in a position to say what is suitable for the Portuguese State,” said Azeredo Lopes.
The minister of National Defence was speaking to Lusa News Agency during a three-hour visit to the Portuguese force deployed in Iraq.
The force is made up of 30 members of the Army Intervention Brigade in Operation Inherent Resolve, providing training to Iraqi forces at the “Gran Capitan” military base, the Besmayah training camp, about 50 kilometres southwest of Baghdad.
Last week, there were reports about the progress made by Iraqi forces backed by the international coalition against ISIS in the western part of Mosul. The conflict “is really approaching the end,” Azeredo Lopes said.
These developments should lead to a reconfiguration of the organisation of the international coalition in Iraq, along with the definition of the terms in which NATO will participate, and the role that Iraq will want to assume, defence sources told Lusa.
Azeredo Lopes stressed that, after being approved last May, it will take some time until the terms in which NATO will take part as a full member in the US-led international coalition are set out.
The training and qualification of the Iraqi Armed Forces is focused on “the ultimate goal that everyone wants, a safer and more capable Iraq, which will certainly be a more efficient barrier against the scourge of transnational terrorism,” he said.
Although it lasted just three hours, the visit to the National Force in Iraq served for the Defence Minister to “convey a message of appreciation” to the military in a theatre of operations “under demanding and very difficult conditions.”
Azeredo Lopes also praised the organisation of the training centre built by the Spanish military, Gran Capitan, at the Besmayah base, where the 30 Portuguese soldiers from the Army Intervention Brigade are based. This group will be relieved in November.
The training by the Portuguese military includes armament, tactics, armoured vehicles, communications, logistics, nuclear and biological defence, shooting, chemistry and radiology, topography and navigation.
Accompanied by the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Pina Monteiro, and by the army chief of staff, Rovisco Duarte, the defence minister was received by the commander of the Gran Capitan military base, General Rabadan.