Main focus of Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Dutch withdrawal weakens Nato

The roughly 1,500 Dutch soldiers stationed in Afghanistan are likely to be withdrawn following the collapse of the governing coalition in the Netherlands. Commentators speak of a bitter blow to Nato's Afghanistan strategy, which already seems doomed to failure.

De Volkskrant - Netherlands

The likely withdrawal of Dutch troops from Afghanistan is a blow for Nato's new Afghanistan strategy, writes the left-liberal daily De Volkskrant: "Nato already has to make a huge effort to get together a large number of soldiers. With the de facto rejection of the petition from Brussels [Nato headquarters] ... the Netherlands is moving in the opposite direction. This certainly won't encourage other member states [to provide more troops]. ... The tragic incident in the Uruzgan border area, in which Nato planes bombarded civilians they mistook for Taliban fighters, underlines once more the precarious nature of the military operations in Afghanistan. After a similar incident in Kunduz five months ago the last thing the allies need is another such mistake. In combination with the Netherlands' withdrawal this will strengthen the feeling in the United States that Obama's government does not have the Afghanistan dossier adequately under control." (23/02/2010)

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The Guardian - United Kingdom

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." (23/02/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Netherlands, » Afghanistan
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Delo - Slovenia

The time has come to reevaluate the West's strategy in Afghanistan, writes the daily Delo with an eye to the possible withdrawal of Dutch troops from the Hindu Kush: "The collapse of the Dutch coalition has done Europe a big favour. Because it's hard to shake the feeling that European politicians simply can't understand what kind of a mess they've got themselves into together with the US. They're involved in a bloody war and spend their whole time talking about peace. ... It's plain to see that the US's policy in Afghanistan is a complete washout. Mikhail Gorbachev, who withdrew the battered and humiliated Red Army from Afghanistan in 1989, also came out and said the same thing recently. ... By no means should the West send more soldiers to Afghanistan. With such an erroneous policy defeat would be inevitable." (23/02/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Europe, » U.S., » Afghanistan
All available articles from » Branko Soban

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