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The Kurds have used their training to battle the extremists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) but also have as their ultimate goal the establishment of their own independent state.

In a public relations push, shepherded by Vance and in close co-operation with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office, the military is promoting what it is calling a successful training mission by the Canadian Special Operations Regiment from Petawawa, Ont.

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That mission is to strengthen Iraq, military commanders say.

Vance is also playing down any concerns about cracks in the Iraqi-Kurdish alliance. He told CTV he doesn’t agree there is a rift in the relationship between the two groups. “While we’re here and while we’re performing this function to rid Iraq of ISIL, I think it’s in all of our best interests to have the political unity necessary to deal with this threat,” Vance said.

“Where after Iraq decides to go in terms of its political laydown is up to Iraq.”

But Peggy Mason, a former disarmament ambassador in then-prime minister Brian Mulroney’s government, said such a view is shortsighted and similar to the one Canada endorsed during the war to overthrow Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

“It’s extraordinarily cavalier to say what comes next is Iraq’s problem,” said Mason, president of the Rideau Institute in Ottawa. “Our training of the peshmerga is not helping if the end result is a stronger group to fight against the Iraqi government later on.”