Dutch Government falls over Afghanistan

Dutch cabinet collapses in dispute over Afghanistan


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.


The troops should have returned home in 2008, but they stayed on because no other Nato nation offered replacements.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8525742.stm

if someone had the fortitude to stand up and speak . too many of our legislators are owned by the corporate powers that demand we occupy nations for profit.

hope the dutch get the hell out of there.

good for the Dutch people. Now if only OUR leadership would show the same kind of resolve...

....

Chimpy started this genocide. Perhaps Obama is carrying Chimpy's water as well (a position I would agree with).

My point is that the Dutch have done far more than we should ask any ally to do.

. . . seem like fine folk. Good to see their legislators take their anti-occupation stance seriously.