Story highlights The US and NATO have begun discussions with Iraq about the possibility of a long presence

Trump directed the Pentagon to draw up a plan on fighting ISIS

Washington (CNN) The US military is contemplating a long-term presence in Iraq to stabilize the country after the anticipated defeat ISIS, America's top military officer said Thursday.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford said that both the US and NATO have begun discussions with Iraq about the possibility.

"We have, as has NATO, begun a dialogue about a long term commitment to grow the capacity, maintain the capacity of Iraqi Security Forces, but no decisions have been made yet," Dunford told an audience at the Brookings Institution in Washington, his first time fielding questions since the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

"Iraq has begun to speak, and you've heard Prime Minister (Haider) Abadi speak, about the international community continuing to support defense capacity building," he added.

A NATO official told CNN Friday that, at Abadi's request, the alliance had already begun training Iraqi troops this month and that NATO's presence there "has no fixed end date."

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