Pentagon mulls improving Iraqi troop training after fall of Ramadi
ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT - Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Thursday Pentagon officials have begun to examine how the US military could better equip and train Iraqi troops after the recent fall of the Iraqi city of Ramadi to Islamic State insurgents.
Carter told reporters on his plane to Asia that he had convened a group of defense policy officials and military officers from US Central Command and the Pentagon's Joint Staff to look at how "we can enhance, hasten" the mission to train and equip Iraqi forces.
"The events of recent weeks there (in Iraq) have highlighted the central importance of having a capable ground partner and that's what the purpose of our train-and-equip program is. So we are looking," Carter said.
