Reply #9: A few corrections [View All]

[Betty Karlson]

1) The reason the Dutch Christian-Democrats were considering to stay longer is that OBAMA asked them to, and that the NATO chief (Rasmussen) had filed a similar request. That request had not been filed in 2007, when the deadline for the present commitemnt mission had been set.

2) both Christian Democratic parties are angry that Labour wanted to stick to the deadline in spite of new developments. They feel new options should at least have been considered. But Labour felt they had to make up for their falling poll numbers in the upcoming municipal elections. And that's why the cabinet broke.

3) There is no uncertainty over the 1600 soldiers in Afghanistan, because the two remaining coalition parties will be considered a demissionary cabinet. The Dutch consitution forbids demissionary cabinets to make any decisions on which there is not a large consensus. That means: no new decisions on Afghanistan missions. And taking into account that new elections will be had in three months time, and then it will take another three months to put together a new coalition (if not more), the deadline of the current mission will expire before any new commitment can be made. As such, the present dealine has become the de facto decision on the date of withdrawal.

4) The Dutch will not withdraw from a fighting mission, they were on a reconstruction mission. That's why the Minister for International Aid had a responsability for this mission equal to the one of the Defense Minister. They were keeping the peace in Uruzgan, rather than bombing people out of their homes. Not all Dutch are happy to abandon such a mission when there is no suitable replacement. And Labour may well have to pay for catering to their base at the expense of the people in Uruzgan.

5) Dutch national television emitted an interview emitted an interview with the parents of one of the twenty-two dead soldiers. (Not 21.) These people said, they feared all their son's sacrifices would be in vain, now that the mission was so hastily abandoned.