NATO’s mission in Iraq

What is NATO Mission Iraq?

NATO Mission Iraq (NMI) is a non-combat training and advisory mission founded on partnership and inclusivity as well as on full respect for Iraq’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. On request from the Iraqi government, government-leaders decided to establish NMI at the NATO summit in Brussels in June 2018.
 
NMI consists of staff officers, advisors and support staff from Allied and NATO partner countries, including Australia, Sweden and Finland.
 
The mission is focused on supporting Iraq in reforming the Iraqi security sector and capacity building of the Iraqi security forces. The aim is to hinder the spread of terror and to promote long-term stability in Iraq. More specifically, NMI is centered on advising and building continued, transparent as well as inclusive and effective national security structures for the Iraqi Ministry of Defence. This includes support to the Iraqi military educational institutions. Furthermore, elements of the Iraqi National Security Council are also advised.

Danish contributions to NMI

Denmark’s current contributions to NMI include staff officers, civilian and military advisors, force protection personnel and a national support element. The Danish force protection and support personnel will be withdrawn from NMI in February 2024 after which Denmark will continue to contribute with staff officers and advisors to the mission.

Previous Danish military contributions to NMI include:

• A force commander and a close protection team (deployed from November 2020 to May 2022).
• A helicopter contribution including personnel (deployed from May 2021 to May 2022).
• Personnel from the Danish deployable communications module (DCM) unit were deployed to NMI from December 2018 to January 2019 and again from November 2022 til March 2023.

Facts

Since October 2018, allied and NATO partner countries, including Australia, Sweden and Finland, have contributed to the NATO Mission Iraq (NMI).

Through training and capacity building, the mission is focused on enhancing the ability of the Iraqi security forces and the military educational institutions.

The EU and UN are also contributing through the EU Advisory Mission in Iraq (EUAM Iraq) and United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UMAMI).