Fresh assessment of Afghanistan is warranted

Premature political grandstanding does not serve the debate about the Dutch presence in Afghanistan well.

Rarely has Washington expressed such a keen interest in Dutch politics. Vice-president Joe Biden, secretary of state Hillary Clinton, US ambassador to Nato Ivo Daalder and US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke - all of them called on the Netherlands in the past few days to keep its soldiers in Afghanistan beyond the agreed withdrawal date in late 2010.

Invariably they doled out compliments for the Dutch approach in Uruzgan province summed up in 'the three d's': development, diplomacy and defence - although Holbrooke added he didn't understand the first thing about Dutch politics.

The latter has everything to do with the fact that Dutch governments rule by coalition and the decision-making process is often characterised by complicated compromises. And at the moment, it is a big question mark whether the coalition of Christian Democrats, Labour and the orthox Christian ChristenUnie will be able to reach a compromise over the Afghanistan mission.

Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende on Friday urged his cabinet ministers to refrain from commenting on the Dutch presence in Afghanistan. Balkenende probably realises that the issue is so divisive it could jeopardise the survival of his government, especially with local elections coming up in March 2010.

Previous calls for discretion about Afghanistan often went unheeded, which doesn't say much about Balkenende's authority in the matter. But at least no further comments were made over the weekend.

Just last week foreign minister Maxime Verhagen, a Christian Democrat, admonished Labour member of parliament Martijn Van Dam for wanting to stick to the motion for withdrawal that was supported by a large majority in parliament in October.

Deputy prime minister Wouter Bos (Labour) also dug in his heels by publicly expressing his support for the parliamentary motion. It seems Bos is more concerned with unity within his own party than with having the government speak with one voice on Uruzgan.

The government wants to provide clarity about the Dutch presence in Afghanistan by the end of January, when the Netherlands will be hosting another international conference on Afghanistan. By then we will know if this coalition government still has the necessary vitality.

About the motion for withdrawal: it may have been approved by a large majority in parliament, but that doesn't mean the government shouldn't take responsibility in the matter. The motion allows for that, by the way.

The new situation that was created by president Barack Obama's election and, more recently, his announcement of a new strategy for Afghanistan, warrants a fresh assessment of the Dutch presence in Afghanistan, unimpeded by any premature grandstanding.