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Ministers clash over Nato Afghanistan letterFriday 12 February 2010 Foreign minister Maxime Verhagen and deputy prime minister Wouter Bos appear to be heading for a showdown over Nato's call for the Netherlands to stay longer in Afghanistan. Bos, who is leader of the Labour party, and the Christian Democrat Verhagen both outlined their position on different tv talk shows on Thursday night. Bos has always been against any delay in the Dutch withdrawal. He told the Pauw & Witteman show the rest of the cabinet had been told last Thursday they could not count on Labour support for an extension to the Dutch mission. That same evening, Nato made a written plea for the Netherlands to stay on in Afghanistan and train local troops. According to news agency ANP, Verhagen had asked Nato to send a formal request. But Verhagen told tv show Den Haag Vandaag that all his contacts with Nato had been agreed with the involved ministers, including Bos. '[Dealing with] something like Afghanistan is not a one man show,' he said. 'You reach agreement and you talk things through in advance.' 'It was not done in my name,' Bos said. In his letter, Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen asks the Netherlands to stay in Afghanistan for another year to help train local forces. He also wants the Netherlands' F-16 fighter jets to remain on active duty in Uruzgan. The Netherlands currently has some 1,800 soldiers and support staff in the region and has also come under increasing pressure from the US to stay in Afghanistan beyond August. Last week it appeared that both parties would support giving the Netherlands a greater role in training Afghan soldiers and police officers as a potential compromise. © DutchNews.nl
Can someone explain to me why these ministers are appearing on television shows contradicting each other. Seems someone - Balkenende - should be telling them both to shut up and put on a united front. And banning tv appearances. Or let the cabinet collapse and we can have a general election too. By shirley | February 12, 2010 9:15 AM I'm not a big fan of the war in Afghanistan, but I do believe that NATO should stick together. If the Americans would have had the same views about WWII.... people in Holland would be speaking German today!! You can't run out on your friends when times get hard! By Jan | February 12, 2010 9:42 AM good point shirley. Whatever happened to the tenet of ministerial collective responsibility. The dutch just don't do politics properly, they're a very egocentric political race! By john | February 12, 2010 10:30 AM I believe The Netherlands should do whatever its people want in regards to Afghanistan. I also believe the U.S. should take notes on who has/will support them, and who won't. The constant cries of 'it's Americas war' are getting old. There is growing support in the U.S. to pull out of the U.N. all together. I think along the same lines, the U.S. should reconsider NATO alliances. By Really Sandra? | February 12, 2010 12:11 PM There is a difference between the world wars and this one, Mr Really. The fact is that the US entered the WWs on the side of the defender - in this case, the US (along with lapdog UK) was the attacker, which puts it up there with other invading forces throughout history. This continent has known for a very long time that Afganistan is unwinnable; it seems somewhat arrogant to believe a stable, western-style democracy will be installed there now. I think the US government would be rather happy for its allies to withdraw, so that they can 'save face' and history books can blame the Europeans (for a change); while giving an ideal opportunity to save billions of dollars each day on an unpopular war that was started in haste, on a lie, against the advice of UN, and is being repented at leisure. By osita | February 12, 2010 2:55 PM The UN is a big bear with no teeth and the Europeans always blames the US for everything that goes bad! Save Face.......are you kidding??? Europe couldn't even take care of the their own back yard with Kosovo. The American's had to save the day again! Stop bashing a country that has the courage to make the difficult decisions and not be afraid of the liberal peace loving hippies! Everyone wants peace, but you can't give your country away to another culture and expect them to give you peace.They will give you the sword! By Jan | February 13, 2010 3:47 PM osita, good response, I could not have said it as well as you. By sandra | February 14, 2010 12:26 PM
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CDA is up to it´s sneeky tricks, lol Wouter Bos is not my favorite politician thats for sure! But, Wouter Bos has been consistent saying from day one that he did not want the Dutch troops in Afghanistan. I do not believe for one moment that Wouter Bos did an about face turnaround and suddenly support Dutch troops to remain in this long drawn out war. Beside that fact, Bos is a financial minister, get real! No way would Wouter Bos want to waste or spend money on a war in the first place! I do give Wouter Bos credit for being a good financial minister, just lousy politician on other areas but minister of finance he is a genius at. So let me end this by saying, Nice try Verhagen but the public wont buy it, it is way over due time to pull the troops out. It is costing the tax payers too much money and lives. It simply is not fair for the citizens of this country to keep on paying for a war that USA started and refuses to stop.
By sandra | February 12, 2010 8:37 AM