The previous Dutch government was convinced that the Netherlands would remain active in Afghanistan as late as July 2009, according to a confidential report of a conversation between US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and then foreign minister Maxime Verhagen.

The document was released by Wikileaks and put online by Britain’s Guardian newspaper.
Verhagen told Clinton that prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende had told president Barack Obama ‘although there were differences within the Dutch coalition government that were still being worked out, he was convinced the Dutch would stay in some capacity in Afghanistan and continue to build on their experience with the 3D approach,’ the document said.
Verhagen himself ‘viewed fighting corruption and supporting democratic elections as key elements of the current focus in Afghanistan.’
Six months later, the Dutch coalition collapsed after Labour refused to agree to any continued mission in Afghanistan. Prior to the collapse there were allegations of secret deals between Verhagen and the US.
Serbian cooperation
The document also shows Verhagen was sceptical about Serbian cooperation with the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
Verhagen agreed the Serbs had made progress, but remained concerned that they were not cooperating ‘to the maximum,’ the document stated. ‘Verhagen expressed concern that the Serbs might make promises and fail to deliver, and the Dutch offers of assistance had not been accepted.’
‘Serbian leaders are only interested in an SAA; they say one thing in person, another to the international press, and another to their own publics,’ the cable quoted the foreign minister as saying. An SAA is an association agreement which paves the way for full EU membership.
The Netherlands led resistance to Serbia’s efforts to join the EU because of its failure in particular to hand over Ratko Mladic. He is held to be responsible for the Srebrenica massacre.