American general David Petraeus, who is in charge of his country’s troops in Afghanistan, has asked the Netherlands to contribute to training police officers and soldiers there, the NRC reports on Thursday.

ANP says according to defence minister Eimert van Middelkoop, Petraeus hopes the Netherlands will contribute ‘a substantial part’ of the 2,000 trainers needed.
The request was made last week while Van Middelkoop was in Kabul, the paper says.
The caretaker minister says a decison on whether or not to honour the request is up to the next government.
Loyal
‘I think the Netherlands, as a loyal ally, should stay,’ the paper quoted him as saying. ‘If the Netherlands ignores the request altogether, it will not be understood.’
The Dutch government fell in February over divisions on whether or not to stay in Afghanistan. The Dutch mission there, which began in 2006, is currently being dismantled.
At the time, Nato and the US put pressure on the Netherlands to stay on to train local troops.