Dutch troops take longer to leave Uruzgan

Thursday 25 March 2010

Dutch troops may well still be on active duty in Afghanistan in 2011 because it is going to take longer to complete the withdrawal than planned, defence minister Eimert van Middelkoop told a tv talk show on Wednesday evening.

The Netherlands is due to begin removing its1,800 soldiers and support staff in August.

In particular, the four Dutch F16 figher jets and five Apache helicopters will remain in the southern region of Uruzgan until the end of the year to protect soldiers involved in the removal operation.

The pull-out will involve between 800 and 1,400 troops and some of them will be busy into next year, Van Middelkoop said.

Complex

The withdrawal is a ´difficult and complex operation´, the minister told his audience. The cost of the pull-out is put at €229m, double the €115m which the defence ministry has set aside to fund it.

The potential delay for Dutch soldiers also depends on who takes over the Netherlands´ role in the province and how much equipment can be passed on to the new arrivals, the minister said. Nato is due to announce that shortly.

Labour´s insistence that the Netherlands pull out in August as planned led to the collapse of the government and new elections in June.

© DutchNews.nl

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