The United States government will convene a meeting in Washington next week for allies engaged in the fight against the extremist organisation Islamic State.
Finland has been asked to contribute additional boots on the ground for the effort, in addition to funding for humanitarian programmes and military hardware.
Finland previously agreed to contribute more troops back in April. There are currently 48 peacekeepers deployed in Erbil in northern Iraq, engaged in training missions. Their tour of duty is due to end in August, but officials have decided to extend their stay for one year. They will also be reinforced by a similar size force, doubling the Finnish contingent.
Requests for humanitarian ops funding, military hardware
Finland has also been asked to provide financial support for humanitarian operations, particularly mine clearance. The Foreign Ministry is currently considering the request and is yet to make a decision on the matter.
Recently, the Finnish government also received an additional request – this time for defence materiel. In practical terms, Finland has been asked to contribute ammunition and light weapons to arm Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
Finland also received a similar appeal last year but declined, given that Finnish legislation currently makes it difficult to make such contributions. It is also a political hot potato in a country with a tradition of crisis management operations, but no direct intervention in overseas conflicts. The Defence Ministry will decide whether or not to comply next week.
Similar appeal to Sweden
According to the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet, the US-led anti-IS alliance has also asked Sweden to contribute military hardware to its campaign.
Swedish Defence Minister Anders Hultqvist said that his country had not yet made a decision on the request, but took a favourable view of doubling its military trainers in northern Iraq from the current complement of 35.
The coalition comprises 60 countries, many of them members of the NATO military alliance.