U.S. training Iraqi forces faster than planned


On Sunday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced that U.S. special operations troops will start training and advising Iraqi forces fighting ISIS militants sooner than expected.
The rush was recommended by Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of U.S. Central Command. Hagel's spokesman, Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, said that Austin thinks this move will cause other countries to send their own trainers to Iraq to work with the troops.
Forces in Iraq's Anbar province began receiving training and advising several days ago. The United States is expected to train nine Iraqi security forces brigades and three Kurdish Peshmerga brigades, The Associated Press reports.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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