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Dutch cabinet collapses in dispute over Afghanistan

by stejeb | February 20, 2010 at 04:32 am

381 views | 25 Recommendations | 6 comments

The Aghanistan conflict continues to divide opinion, now, in a not unexpected move, Dutch Labour politicians have pulled down the coalition government in the Netherlands.

The desire to pull troops out is understandable, but where does it leave the long term strategic planning of NATO? If they can't deploy forces and determine how long they will remain, they're going to finish up with gaps in their defences, which will have to be plugged.

The Dutch government has collapsed over disagreements within the governing coalition on extending troop deployments in Afghanistan.

After marathon talks, Christian Democratic Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced that the Labour Party was quitting the government.

Mr Balkenende has been considering a Nato request for Dutch forces to stay in Afghanistan beyond 2010.

But Labour, the second-largest coalition party, has opposed the move.

Just under 2,000 Dutch service personnel have been serving in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan since 2006, with 21 killed.

Their deployment has already been extended once.

I hope not too many more countries sink to these depths, where cooperation within their own ranks fails so badly. It will do nothing for troop moral or the confidence of front line troops.

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Uwe Paschen

at 05:30 on February 20th, 2010

WWII lasted six years and pulled all resources.

This war has been going on for almost a decade now. It is time to change strategies.

Four year ago, Russia, Germany and France made a proposal that was rejected by the US and the UK.

The Taliban have to be reintegrated into society and Government. Until two years ago this plan would have succeeded for the Taliban where ready and willing to make compromises and accept to enter a democratic system, giving up their arms in exchange for an amnesty.

However, now they are no longer willing to do so, thanks in part to the arrogance of NATO over all and the US and the UK in particular.

stejeb

at 05:38 on February 20th, 2010

I fully agree Uwe, I objected to the whole thing right from the start, as I did with Iraq, going in guns blazing should be left to Hollywood movies, a better answer should have been sought right at the front end of this.

With the situation as it now stands, the fragmentation of alled forces would lead to even more loss of life, and escalate this beyond anyones wishes.

hussain

at 08:38 on February 20th, 2010

This is a good move. Rest of the Nato member countries should also follow the Netherlands so that the lasting peace could be established. But it seems a distant dream keeping in view the history of the US arrogance because of which they started dubbing China their adversary as soon as the Soviet Union collapsed and the so-called Cold War came to an end.

stejeb

at 12:11 on February 20th, 2010

I'm curious about where this "lasting peace" is going to come from, it wasn't there beforehand, I think you'll find Afghanistan has been regarded as a thorn in the side of it's neighbours for rather a long time, and a source of much misery throughout the world for the entirety of my lifetime and long before.

And please don't munch at the USA about the cold war, believe me, it was just a little more widespread, and I dread to think what regime I would now be living under here in Europe were it not for America's alliance and strength, and China is managing to piss the whole world off right now, and have done as far back as I can remember.

nanute

at 04:08 on February 21st, 2010

The NATO effort is in "dutch?"

robatkinson (not verified)

at 10:40 on February 22nd, 2010

I don't object to the effort in Afghanistan. From what I can gather, most Afghanistans are hardly objectionable. To back out, and walk away leaving things unfinalised is just plain wrong.