The Iraqi government has spent more than 5 billion U.S. dollars to buy military equipment, supplies and training from the United States through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, the U.S. military announced in a statement released in Baghdad Saturday.
The Iraqi government is taking tremendous steps to rebuild and strengthen its Security Forces and bolster the nation's self- sufficiency during the transition from Coalition to Iraqi-led operations in support of the Security Agreement between Iraq and the United States, Xinhua reported.
The deal came after a five-day talks this week between representatives from the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Army Security Assistance Command and Navy International Program Office, and the Iraqi Defense and Interior Ministries, a financial management review of the Iraqi FMS program.
Approximately 20 members of the Iraqi Defense Ministry and the Interior Ministry took part in the financial review, according to the statement.
The Iraqi Security Forces have already received approximately 1. 5 billion U.S. dollars of services, vehicles, aircraft parts, small arms, uniforms and training through the FMS program and have made commitments for an additional 3.5 billion dollars in such purchases, the statement quoted U.S. Army Lt. Col. Kimberly Enderle as saying.
The strategic partnership between the United States and Iraq is growing, added Enderle, chief of transportation logistics and accountability for the Security Assistance Office.
With the timetable of U.S. troops withdrawal gets tighter as the Obama administration plans to allocate more troops to Afghanistan, both Iraqi and U.S. governments are eager to enable Iraqi security forces to stand on their own feet as quickly as possible.
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