Renewed Dutch mission to Afghanistan was always an option

Dutch ministers are creating confusion with their recent conflicting statements about participation in new military missions to Afghanistan. Yet government statements have always left the option open to remain in Afghanistan. There are currently Dutch F16 fighters stationed in Kandahar and Dutch officers active at the command centre in Kabul, for a total of about 350 troops.

The official government letter at the end of 2007 announcing the extension of the Dutch mission states literally that the Netherlands “will in any event end its leading military responsibility in Uruzgan as of August 1, 2010.” From that date the withdrawal of the Dutch troops “will take place as quickly as possible, so that this is completed as of December 1, 2010.” Yet during the parliamentary debate of December 2007, it was discussed whether departure from Uruzgan also meant a full pullout from Afghanistan.

Minister Verhagen said at the time: “I am not saying here that the Netherlands is not willing to take part in Nato missions after August 2010.” In other words, the government has from very beginning left open the possibility of remaining active elsewhere in Afghanistan after its departure from Uruzgan. Incidentally that is already the case now, on a limited scale.

The term ‘withdraw’ can be broadly interpreted, as evidenced in recent days. Is the Netherlands leaving Uruzgan in just under two years, or not? This issue was once again clouded after statements this weekend by the Dutch minister of foreign affairs Maxime Verhagen in the daily De Telegraaf.

Additional commentary

The government’s official answer is that the Netherlands is leaving Uruzgan in 2010. Confusion arises when ministers fail to stick to this statement, perpetually adding on some additional commentary. Minister Verhagen has done so repeatedly. Entirely in line with the government’s decision of 30 November 2007, which announced that the Netherlands would stay in Uruzgan another two years, Verhagen said: “The last soldier of Taskforce Uruzgan will leave at the end of 2010. That is the decision we have taken, nothing more and nothing less.” Then, however, he added: “I am not going to say in advance that this is it. We naturally have a military because we believe it is important for us to participate in international peacekeeping missions, which we also stated in the coalition agreement.”

Doesn’t this open the door to a longer stay by Dutch troops? In the absence of Verhagen, who is in Asia at the moment, defence minister Eimert van Middelkoop was slated to be asked for clarity on this point in parliament on Tuesday. In December, questions were posed to prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, who had said it would be a “new choicepoint at which to reconsider” the Dutch presence in Afghanistan should incoming American president Obama call on the Netherlands to continue on there.

Compensation

If the estimated 1,300 Dutch troops should depart from Uruzgan in just under two years, it cannot be ruled out that the Netherlands might then offer soldiers for deployment elsewhere in Afghanistan as ‘compensation.’ That would therefore not involve full withdrawal, but an exchange of troops. That sounds considerably friendlier towards the Dutch ally the US, which has been calling on Europe for years to send more troops to Afghanistan.

There is less eagerness at the ministry of defence. Van Middelkoop has said repeatedly that the Uruzgan mission has taken a heavy toll on the defence organisation, both in terms of numbers of deployed people and equipment. But in The Hague this is also interpreted as ‘functional’ opposition, aimed at securing more funds for defence.

The question remains whether the Dutch role in Afghanistan will be fully played out after 2010. Not for international development minister Bert Koenders in any event, who supports many projects in Uruzgan. “The relationship will continue to be important even after the departure of the Dutch troops,” he says. The reconstruction efforts largely take place via so-called provincial reconstruction teams. Initially these were entirely staffed by soldiers, but they are increasingly being led by civilians. The defence ministry still sees the possibility that these teams, partly staffed by Dutch soldiers, will remain in Uruzgan after 2010. The same applies for the teams training Afghan soldiers.

The confusion about the presence in Uruzgan will therefore continue. A particularly telling comment emerged in a report from a television report in December. The Dutch commander in Uruzgan, Kees Mathijssen, said that after 2010 “there would be a military presence in Uruzgan, just not a Dutch one.” To which Peter Mollema, coordinator from the ministry of foreign affairs, quickly added: “At least not [with the Dutch] in a leading role.”