Dutch parliament approves police role in Afghanistan

Jan 28, 2011, 0:51 GMT

The Hague - The Dutch parliament approved early Friday the deployment of police trainers to Afghanistan following two days of heated debate.

Afghan policemen trained by Dutch forces would have no military duties, the Dutch government had said Thursday in an attempt to convince parliament to vote in favour of a renewed mission to the country.

Several small opposition parties agreed to the mission after the government made a number of concessions to ensure the effort would not be a military one.

Some 545 experts and security forces are to be sent to the northern Afghan province of Kunduz.

Afghanistan had been asked to provide assurances that the policemen would not be required to work with the army, the minority government under Prime Minister Mark Rutte said before a parliamentary debate.

In a letter from the cabinet to parliament, the government also promised that the policemen's training in the northern province of Kundus would be more thorough than that given in other NATO training programmes. The letter followed demands made by the parliamentary Green-Left and Christian Union factions.

At NATO's request, the Hague wants to send 545 instructors and security forces to Afghanistan.

In summer 2010, the Netherlands became the first NATO member to withdraw from Afghanistan. Shortly beforehand a coalition government led by the Christian Democrats collapsed over the country's mission there.

NATO and the United States appealed to the new government to at least provide police training. But according to opinion polls 68 per cent of the Dutch public reject even such a limited mandate.

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