Now that the Dutch government has collapsed over the issue of its deployment of troops to Afghanistan – and hence that they will soon be withdrawn – what are the political and military consequences?
This editorial from Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant warns that the biggest victim of this turn of events isn’t The Netherlands – it’s Barack Obama.
The de Volkskrant editorial says in part:
One cannot ignore the damaged reputation that The Netherlands now suffers thanks to the unseemly events regarding its decision on whether to stay in Uruzgan. The same applies to the loss of influence that will certainly occur.
This is an especially painful development for the White House. Prime Minister Balkenende touched on this sore spot when he recalled that in 2007, President Bush succeeded in persuading The Hague, including the [ruling] Dutch Labor Party, to agree to an open-ended extension of its military mission in Uruzgan. Meanwhile, President Obama is getting nothing for his request, which is much more limited in both time and scope.
This reinforces the feeling in the United States that the Obama Administration has an insufficient grip on the Afghanistan issue. Without doubt, critics of the president, especially those on the right, are sharpening their knives.
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