BRUSSELS, Sept 30 (AFP) - A NATO agreement to train Iraqi security forces could lead to the deployment of up to 3,000 troops, the most allowed under an agreement by member states, a senior alliance source said Thursday.
That figure, which would include the military trainers as well as security personnel, has been cited by US General James Jones, the supreme commander of allied forces in Europe, according to his entourage.
Up to now, NATO officials have spoken only of a mission of "a few hundred" instructors, probably about 300, who would train army officers at a military academy outside the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
"He's not envisaging it will go beyond 3,000," a military source close to Jones said, adding that the exact size was still to be determined.
Jones has provided the alliance's highest military body with an "operation concept" outlining the framework for the mission, which would then have to go to NATO's political masters for approval.
NATO leaders agreed at a June summit to launch the training mission after overcoming objections from France, which strongly opposed last year's US-led invasion, and the plan was formally adopted last week.
The alliance already has about 40 soldiers in Iraq training army officers, but London and Washington argued that it had to be enlarged.