US would welcome Dutch Uruzgan stay

Wednesday 01 April 2009

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that she would welcome a decision by the Netherlands to stay longer in Afghanistan.

The Netherlands has some 1,400 soldiers in the country, mainly in the southern province of Uruzgan. Last year, the government agreed to extend the Dutch mission until August 2010, a move which angered many MPs. It is still not clear if the Netherlands will pull out entirely next year.

Clinton made the comments in an interview with tv station RTL4.

She also hinted that the US might consider giving its support to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. 'We are looking at the conditions for membership. But we want to be sure that our soldiers can carry out their mission all over the world without risk,' she said.

The US does not currently recognise the court which was set up to try people suspected of war crimes and genocide, including soldiers.

© DutchNews.nl

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