It seems that the Dutch government has survived the political crisis caused by the “Davids Report” on the Netherlands’ involvement in the Iraq war, to almost immediately become immersed in another crisis that threatens to topple the coalition government.
This time, the crisis is over the possible extension of the Dutch military mission in Afghanistan.
Back in 2007, the Dutch parliament agreed to extend the Dutch military mission in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan under the condition that the last Dutch troops would be out of Afghanistan by December 1, 2010.
However, NATO this week asked Prime Minister Balkenende to maintain a smaller contingent of Dutch troops—between 500 and 700—in Afghanistan for an additional eight months. The Netherlands currently has close to 2,000 troops serving in Afghanistan.
Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Wouter Bos reaffirmed his promise to the Dutch voters to bring the troops home as scheduled.
This puts him and his Labor Party (PvDA) at odds with the other two coalition Parties, the Christian Democratic Party (CDA) and the Christian Union and their respective Ministers (Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen and Defense Minister Eimert van Middelkoop) who have both indicated their willingness to extend the Dutch military presence in Uruzgan.
According to Radio Nederland, Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said that, as far as he was concerned, the options were still open and emphasized the “great international responsibility” the Netherlands has to examine NATO’s request carefully.
This development comes at a time when NATO and the U.S. step up operations against the Taliban.
The U.S. and NATO had hoped to add as many as 10,000 more troops, mainly from Germany and France, but according to the Wall Street Journal, “both countries have largely rebuffed the U.S. requests, with France sending 80 new troops and Germany committing to 500 reinforcements while reiterating plans to begin withdrawing next year.”
This latest move by Dutch politicians could result in even fewer European troops augmenting NATO in Afghanistan—representing a setback for the Obama administration and a possible fall of the Dutch government.
The headlines “Dutch cabinet faces Afghanistan crisis” (Radio Nederland), “Dutch Nearing Afghan Pullout” (The Wall Street Journal), “Will the Dutch government fall over troop deployment?” and “Dutch cabinet teetering on the brink of collapse” (NRC Handelsblad) clearly state the seriousness of the situation.
Stay tuned.
UPDATE
BBC News has just announced that
The Dutch government has collapsed over disagreements within the governing coalition on extending troop deployments in Afghanistan.
After marathon talks, Christian Democratic Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced that the Labour Party was quitting the government.
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The collapse of the government was announced after a 16-hour cabinet meeting.
Read more here.
UPDATE II:
According to the Dutch newspaper, NRC Handelsblad:
[The Dutch Prime Minister] Balkenende said his own CDA [Christian Democratic Alliance] would continue in office together with ChristenUnie, and would offer the resignation of Labour’s ministers to the Queen on Saturday. Together, the remaining parties hold 47 of the 150 seats in Dutch parliament. The minority government is expected to issue elections by May.
None of Jan Peter Balkenende’s previous coalition governments completed their terms… The current minority cabinet will officially be his fifth.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.