Withdrawal revives unpleasant memories

The Netherlands could be the first Nato country to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan. Bad timing, writes The Guardian, because in addition to helping the Taliban the withdrawal will interrupt the good work being done by the Dutch: "The Dutch withdrawal comes at a delicate time in the implementation of the strategy of the international commander General Stanley McChrystal. ... In Uruzgan, the Dutch have a good reputation, perhaps the best of all the international allies ... . But in Tirin Kot, the Uruzgan capital, the Dutch run the provincial support and reconstruction team (PRT), which has a record on education outreach and schools, and training in sanitation and health second to none. ... To walk away raises, for many Dutch, the shadow of another retreat and failure - that at Srebrenica in Bosnia in July 1995."

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