Carter: US falls short of training goal of Iraqi troops

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter revealed on Wednesday that his country has fallen short of its goal to train 24,000 Iraqi forces to fight ISIL.

"Of the 24,000 Iraqi Security Forces we had originally envisioned training at our four sites by this fall, we've only received enough recruits to be able to train about 7,000 in addition to 2,000 Counterterrorism Service personnel," said Carter to the House Armed Services Committee.

"Our training efforts in Iraq have thus far been slowed by a lack of trainees. We simply haven't received enough recruits," he continued.

Despite the White House's decision last week to send 450 more US troops to Anbar Province, Carter insisted, "As I've told Iraqi leaders, while the United States is open to supporting Iraq more than we already are, we must see a greater commitment from all parts of the Iraqi government".