WASHINGTON — Iraqi security forces have made strides over the past four months with nearly a third of the army’s battalions now assigned to their own battle space, a Pentagon progress report said on Friday.Delivered to Congress amid an upsurge of sectarian violence, the report said the force has grown to about 230,000. It said 98 Iraqi army and 27 police battalions have been trained and equipped and are now engaged in counter-insurgency operations. Of the army battalions, 53 are capable of leading counter-insurgency operations with US military support and 37 control their own areas.
Both figures represent significant increase from October, when only 19 battalions had their own battle space and 36 were judged capable of leading operations, albeit with US military backing. “One of the reasons we want to turn over battle space to Iraqis is precisely so coalition forces can be less visible and less exposed,” said Peter Rodman, an assistant secretary of defence who briefed reporters on the report.
The security forces, which in the past have crumbled under insurgent pressure, now face a major test of strength with an explosion of sectarian violence in the wake of the bombing of a Shia mosque this week. “This so far seems to be a test that they are standing up to just exactly as we would hope,” Lieutenant General Gene Renuart, of the Joint Staff, told reporters here.
With most of the line armyÂ’s line battalions now trained and equipped, US military trainers are shifting their focus to creating support units that would enable the Iraqi to operate independently of the US military, the report said. Plans call for completing the formation of leaders and basic training for most of those support units by the end of the year, he said.
No Iraqi battalions are currently considered capable of operating fully independently of the US military, Renuart said. In October, there was one, but it has since been downgraded, he said. Once combat support and combat services units have been built up, the general said, “then you will begin to see increasing numbers of level-one battalions.”
The report said priority also is being given this year to training and equipping police forces, which fall under the Ministry of the Interior and currently number some 82,000. “Insurgent infiltration and militia influence remain a concern for the Ministry of the Interior,” the report said. “Many serving police officers, particularly in the south, have ties to Shia militias.”
Recent sectarian attacks on Sunnis have been carried out by Interior Ministry police suspected of having been ties to Shia militias, the report said. “Domestication of the militias is a gradual process,” Rodman said. But he added that bringing them into the police forces was a way to do it.