U.S. welcomes NATO pledge to train Iraqi troops
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 VIDEO |
 Coalition Administrator Paul Bremer hands over the transfer document to Iraqis.
 The coalition has transferred power to the Iraqi interim government.
 NATO is expected to agree to help train Iraqi troops.
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ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- U.S. officials praised NATO's decision Monday to help train Iraqi security forces, as requested by interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
"The international community, once again, is demonstrating its support and commitment to the new Iraqi government by providing training of security forces through the NATO alliance," a senior administration officials told reporters in Istanbul, where President Bush and other top administration officials are attending the NATO Summit.
NATO reached its decision on the first day of the summit, but the commitment remains vague.
It is not yet known what the size of the training mission will be or exactly when and where it will take place.
France and Germany, two prominent members of the alliance, staunchly opposed the U.S.-led war, but they supported the training mission.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters Monday that the disagreements with France and Germany over whether the war was justified have not disappeared.
"On the other hand, what is important is you've got a United Nations resolution that has blessed the new government in Iraq.
"And you've got a situation in which we have accepted today that there is a good and sound NATO role, which is actually the only role we ever sought for NATO, of training and helping to train the Iraqis so that they can do their own security work, which is the request that they have made to us.
"And in that sense, I think the international community has come together, and I welcome it."
The 26 NATO leaders had gathered in Turkey's business capital with top of the agenda the deal hammered out last week by alliance ambassadors in Brussels to train Iraqi forces.
NATO envoys had wrangled for 24 hours over how to respond to Allawi's request for help for his security forces against insurgents.
The deal was left deliberately vague and differences remain still on whether NATO should train Iraqi officers inside Iraq, or limit itself to training outside the country and acting as a clearing house for national efforts.
France -- who with Germany, opposed the U.S.-led war with Iraq -- insists the training is a job for allies not the alliance as a whole, and there should be "no NATO flag" on the ground in Iraq.
"The engagement of NATO is reduced to training and only training," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said. "We have made clear that we don't want to see German soldiers in Iraq."
President Bush, keen in a U.S. presidential election year to persuade others to help share the security burden in Iraq, has been pushing for the most active NATO role possible.
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice pointed out Sunday that 16 NATO member nations are already "on the ground" in Iraq.
The NATO leaders also agreed to raise the number of troops in its Afghanistan peacekeeping force to around 10,000 from 6,500 to help make September's elections secure.
NATO has been criticized by non-governmental groups for not expanding its mission more aggressively. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, calling for more troops, warned last week the polls could be postponed if security does not improve.
The leaders also agreed to end their mission in Bosnia by the end of the year and turn over responsibility for peacekeeping to an EU force.
The EU has agreed to take over the 7,500-member mission, which will be the union's most ambitious military operation to date.
NATO, which began the mission nine years ago, will maintain a presence in Bosnia to help the country with defense reforms, fight terrorism and keep up the hunt for war crimes suspects.
Outside the summit, police used tear gas to stop hundreds of protesters from approaching after fire bombs were thrown.
CNN-Turk television said a large number of protesters were detained.
Turkey had dramatically boosted security for the summit.
F-16 warplanes patrolled the skies of Istanbul. AWACS early warning planes dispatched by NATO were helping monitor a no-fly zone over the city.
More than 23,000 police are on duty for the summit. Turkish commandos patrolled the Bosporus in rubber boats with mounted machine guns.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
