Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Astor of Hever (Conservative). It was answered on Monday, 12 January 2009.

Iraq: UK Armed Forces

Question: My Lords, we on these Benches associate ourselves with the condolences the Minister sent to the families and friends of the servicemen tragically killed in Afghanistan. Can the Minister confirm that the 600 British troops in Kuwait who are currently acting as a reserve for Iraq will also be withdrawn? The Minister mentioned training; will the Royal Navy’s training and advisory mission, carrying out the vital work of training the Iraqi navy, remain for the time being?

Answer: My Lords, we do have reserves in Kuwait. The Kuwaiti Government continue to support the ongoing operations in Iraq through the provision of facilities such as logistics and engineering staff. That will continue for the time being because we need to see an orderly withdrawal from Iraq. We have a good long-term and strong bilateral relationship with the Government of Kuwait, which will of course continue. We are significantly contributing to the training of the Iraqi navy, which is important for protecting energy reserves and maritime movements in that area. There is still a significant amount of work to be done, and we anticipate that that may be one of the areas in which we have ongoing work. However, as I have said, no direct decisions have been made at this stage.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 706 c1010
Session: 2008-09
Oral question type: 1st Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Armed forces Deployment Iraq Kuwait Peacekeeping operations Navy Training
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk