12.30am: Ministers were locked in talks with their own senior advisers after midnight following a marathon cabinet meeting earlier in the day over the future Dutch role in Afghanistan.

Commentators said earlier in the evening there are signs that a decision on whether or not to stay in Afghanistan may be delayed. However, as the evening progressed, the less likely it seemed ministers would reach an agreement.
Junior defence minister Jack de Vries told reporters earlier on Friday he expects the decision to be taken next week. The cabinet had until March 1 to decide, he pointed out.
The evening session comes after at least six hours of talks between ministers on how to resolve the crisis between prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende and deputy prime minister and Labour leader Wouter Bos.
Cabinet
Following Thursday’s eight hour parliamentary debate, ministers met their own advisors on Friday morning before moving to the cabinet rooms.
Bos insists that the cabinet request Nato’s request to the Netherlands to stay on past August deadline on Friday. Balkenende favours taking more time to reach a decision.
Sources told Nos tv that a large part of today’s talks were taken up with trying to work out if trust can be restored between the coalition parties.
But sources told the Nos, Labour ministers will only agree to a delay if the Nato request is rejected.
Nato
According to the NRC, Nato officials are baffled by the cabinet crisis. The formal request was made at the behest of foreign minister Maxime Verhagen.
‘We assumed everything was in order,’ one high Nato official told the paper. ‘We discussed it at length at the Afghanistan summit in London [last month],’ another said.
According to the Telegraaf website, Verhagen discussed the issue with Nato secretary general Anders Rasmussen without the consent or imput of his cabinet colleagues.
Sources told the paper Verhagen acted as if the issue had already been decided in the cabinet.
Verhagen has always said his talks with Nato officials had been carried out with the full knowledge and backing of other ministers.
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