Some 2,000 Dutch soldiers have been stationed in Afghanistan's southern Oruzgan Province since 2006.
Twenty-one Dutch soldiers have been killed in the restive province and the Afghan mission is hugely unpopular among the Dutch.
According to initial plans, the troops were to have returned home in 2008, but the Dutch government extended their deployment after no other NATO country offered replacements.
Earlier this month, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen asked the Netherlands to take on a new training role and remain in Oruzgan until August 2011. The Christian Democrats said today the future of the Afghan mission now depends on forming a new government. An early election is expected to take place later this year.
Experts warn the Netherlands' potential decision not to extend its Afghan mission could have a domino effect among other NATO nations with troops with Afghanistan.
I thought that NATO was supposed to be a collective defense organization--not a collective retreat organization. It is pretty sad that the departure of one small--but valuable--ally could cause a stampede for the exits by our NATO allies.
I guess we can finally lay to rest the idea that it was Bush's fault that the mission in Afghanistan is so unpopular in Europe.
