OREANDA-NEWS. The issue of enhancing the role of NATO at the call of the United States in the Middle East "is being discussed at the political level", and not on the practical military plane. This was stated on Tuesday by the head of the NATO Military Committee, Stuart Peach, opening a planned meeting of the Military Committee at the level of chiefs of general staffs.

"US President Donald Trump called on NATO to strengthen its presence in the Middle East. This issue is still being discussed at the political level by NATO states," he said. In the program of today's meeting of chiefs of general staff, the issue of strengthening NATO in the Middle East does not appear. Discussion at the political level in NATO implies building consensus in the North Atlantic Council at the level of foreign ministers. Only after a political decision is made, the task is put up for discussion by the military.

Peach also noted that the alliance continues to try to resolve the issue of the work of its mission in Iraq to prepare the military for the Iraqi army. All training activities of NATO instructors in Baghdad were frozen for security reasons after the assassination of Iranian General Kassem Suleimani as a result of a US air strike. Some NATO countries chose to immediately withdraw their military from Iraq, fearing that they would be a target for retaliatory action.

"The security of our military is key to NATO. We remain in close contact with the Iraqi authorities and our friends in the United States on the NATO mission", Peach said.