MESOP : MASRUR’S DECISION – Kurdish Security Chief Hints at Need for Foreign Troops on the Ground / Masrour Barzani says region cannot wait for troops to be trained

Basnews | Luke Coleman views – 24.01.2015 – ERBIL – In an interview given to Al Jazeera, Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region’s security Council Masrour Barzani, has outlined the problems facing the Peshmerga in the fight against Islamic State. He believes that waiting for forces being trained by the US at the moment to be ready for the fight allows IS to regroup, meaning that taking ground back from the insurgents is extremely difficult.

“To wait until the training is completed, until these forces, especially in Iraq, are coming to a position where they can drive IS out, that will take a longer time, so I believe that there has to be a way of bringing more forces to the ground and not only depend on the air strikes.”Asked if he was calling for foreign forces on the ground Barzani said, “I wouldn’t be calling [for] that, that depends on how quickly does the international community want to get rid of IS.” As the question of a united Iraq continues to be raised, he suggested that the country can remain together, but within new parameters, “I hope the structure remains based in federalism, and perhaps a more loose kind of unity, maybe confederation would be best to address this existing problem.”