NATO Wrong-footed By Dutch Pull Out

NATO has expressed surprise at the Dutch decision to reduce the number of its police trainers in the Afghan province of Kunduz. The defence ministry says it took the decision because of a lack of recruits to train.

Speaking in Brussels today, US Lieutenant General William Caldwell, head of the NATO training mission in Afghanistan, said he would be astonished if there weren’t enough recruits in Kunduz since recently they have actually had to turn people away.

Earlier, national quality newspaper NRC Handelsblad reported that "there are hardly any policemen in Kunduz willing to be trained by the Dutch.”

The reason is the restrictions on the mission imposed by politicians back in The Hague. The Dutch government only just managed to win parliamentary backing for the mission, in exchange for guarantees that the police trainees would only be trained for law enforcement but not for combat.

But NRC reports that “this mandate ... clashes with the reality in the North Afghan province”. As a result, it has proved difficult to fill a class with recruits that meet the Dutch demands.