American vice president Joe Biden phoned Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende on Wednesday to say ‘he hoped the Netherlands would remain involved in Afghanistan after 2010’, the Volkskrant reports on Thursday.

The paper says the prime minister told Biden the Netherlands is still deciding what to do after the current Dutch mission to Afghanistan finally ends in December next year. The withdrawal of the 2,000 Dutch soldiers and support staff will begin in August.
But the prime minister said earlier the Netherlands would consider its position if the US made a formal request.
‘America has phoned and this is the moment to think about it,’ left-wing green MP Mariko Peters said in parliament on Wednesday evening. ‘We cannot wait until March. I want to know now.’
Opposition
The cabinet had said it would take a final decision by March 1. A majority of MPs are opposed to any extension of the Dutch mission and the coalition Labour and ChristenUnie parties said yesterday their position had not changed.
Yesterday it emerged pressure is mounting on the Dutch to keep troops in the region. US secretary of state Hillary Clinton phoned Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen last week urging him to remain involved.
NOS tv reported that Dutch defense minister Eimert van Middelkoop has also been in conversation with US under secretary for defence Michèle Flournoy while Peter van Uhm, the Netherlands’s head of the armed forces, has been phoned by Michael Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.
The pressure follows US president Barak Obama’s decision to send an extra 30,000 soldiers to the country and his call for more involvement from other countries.
America’s ambassador to Nato Ivo Dalder has also called on the Netherlands to remain active in Afghanistan. In a letter to the Volkskrant, the former Dutch national, praises the Netherlands for being a ‘strong ally which has delivered a good performance’.
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