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Dutch to pull troops out of Aghanistan following government collapse

Maximus Zeebra

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EUobserver / Dutch to pull troops out of Aghanistan following government collapse
Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende said:
his country's troops are likely to be pulled out of Afghanistan by the end of this year, a move he said may prompt other wavering states - including EU members - to think about doing the same.
EUobserver said:
The centre-right leader was speaking a day after his government collapsed over the issue. The Labour Party quit the the coalition on Saturday, saying it could not agree to a Nato request to extend the Dutch mission beyond 2010. The Netherlands is among the top ten contributors to Afghanistan. Twenty-one of its soldiers have been killed there.

Democracy, what a bastard, eh?
...and, are European policians already fed up with Obamas lies?
 
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What exactly is the objection to the mission in Afghanistan? I mean, there are no issues about deceit like there were with Iraq, and every country presently in Afghanistan agreed with the decision to go in. What's their rationale for leaving - "we're tired, you guys can handle it?"
 
What exactly is the objection to the mission in Afghanistan? I mean, there are no issues about deceit like there were with Iraq, and every country presently in Afghanistan agreed with the decision to go in. What's their rationale for leaving - "we're tired, you guys can handle it?"

It could be they are tired of supporting Afghanistan since the Afghani's are unwilling to take up the job of defending themsleves
 
What exactly is the objection to the mission in Afghanistan? I mean, there are no issues about deceit like there were with Iraq, and every country presently in Afghanistan agreed with the decision to go in. What's their rationale for leaving - "we're tired, you guys can handle it?"

To be honest, they really don't need a reason beyond not wanting to be there any more.
 
oh boy...what should we do, arm them again?

Not sure but it is pathetic that after 8 years Afghanistan has been unable to form a military that is capable of fighting.

While the Taliban takes the same people and turns them into effective fighters in weeks or months.

Something in Afghanistan is being done horribly wrong and has been this way for years.

Canada in WW1 was able to take young men fresh off the farm and turn them into an effective military in a few weeks. Why cant an Afghani force be created in a year or two
 
Not sure but it is pathetic that after 8 years Afghanistan has been unable to form a military that is capable of fighting.

While the Taliban takes the same people and turns them into effective fighters in weeks or months.

Something in Afghanistan is being done horribly wrong and has been this way for years.

Canada in WW1 was able to take young men fresh off the farm and turn them into an effective military in a few weeks. Why cant an Afghani force be created in a year or two
simply because we can't assure them of life beyond tribal warfare.
 
It could be they are tired of supporting Afghanistan since the Afghani's are unwilling to take up the job of defending themsleves

To be honest, they really don't need a reason beyond not wanting to be there any more.

I'm not saying they need a reason or that it's surprising, I'm saying that it's a bit depressing and indicative of the global security problems that the world is going to face. Did they think that their 2,000 troops were going to be enough to help secure and rebuild one of the poorest countries on the planet in just a few year span? What's stopping every other country from doing the same and leaving Afghanistan worse off than it was before?
 
What exactly is the objection to the mission in Afghanistan? I mean, there are no issues about deceit like there were with Iraq, and every country presently in Afghanistan agreed with the decision to go in. What's their rationale for leaving - "we're tired, you guys can handle it?"

The socialist PVDA party refused to even discuss the smaller effort which is now asked from us. They thought their veto would do well with voters from the Left. It's a political move at the expense of our soldiers and our NATO partners.
 
I'm not saying they need a reason or that it's surprising, I'm saying that it's a bit depressing and indicative of the global security problems that the world is going to face. Did they think that their 2,000 troops were going to be enough to help secure and rebuild one of the poorest countries on the planet in just a few year span? What's stopping every other country from doing the same and leaving Afghanistan worse off than it was before?

What is to stop Afghanistan from finally standing up for its own defense. The Taliban are not some god like force, but a bunch of irregulars armed with AK 47 and RPG 7's

Why on earth has the Afghani army not been trained to any real level by now in any real numbers

If 2000 Dutch troops have not been able to do anything after 7 years regarding the Afghani army another 7 is not going to help. It should have only taken a couple of years to develop an Afghani army, not a couple of decades
 
they are a god like force to the people they've subjugated. truly, i don't know the answer, but it doesn't seem to be forthcoming.
 
they are a god like force to the people they've subjugated. truly, i don't know the answer, but it doesn't seem to be forthcoming.

They have been pushed out of most regions at times, and the Afghan army let them back in. So did the afghani people
 
The Dutch have made their point. Because of their participation, we won't be seeing terrorists flying planes into Dutch windmills.
 
What is to stop Afghanistan from finally standing up for its own defense. The Taliban are not some god like force, but a bunch of irregulars armed with AK 47 and RPG 7's

Why on earth has the Afghani army not been trained to any real level by now in any real numbers

If 2000 Dutch troops have not been able to do anything after 7 years regarding the Afghani army another 7 is not going to help. It should have only taken a couple of years to develop an Afghani army, not a couple of decades

You think it's reasonable to expect any occupying force to be able to turn a war-torn and dirt poor country with no infrastructure into a self-governing democracy in "a couple of years"? When has that ever happened?
 
What's their rationale for leaving - "we're tired, you guys can handle it?"

That's precisely it. Europeans only have a stomach for war when it involves conquering their neighbors...
 
It should have only taken a couple of years to develop an Afghani army, not a couple of decades

And how would you know? What kind of experience do you have in the training of foreign militaries?
 
You think it's reasonable to expect any occupying force to be able to turn a war-torn and dirt poor country with no infrastructure into a self-governing democracy in "a couple of years"? When has that ever happened?

Did I say creating a democracy?

I said creating an Afghan army, something different entirely dont you think.


The Taliban can turn an Afghan into an effective fighter in a short period of time from the looks of it, why can not NATO turn Afghani's into an effective army in 7 years?
 
And how would you know? What kind of experience do you have in the training of foreign militaries?

Do you

If you do in a war zone that would mean Vietnam (another wonderful success)

Think about this, how long does it take to create a soldier

a few weeks
a few months
a few years
or a few decades.

Something is being done incompetently in Afghanistan and has been done so since 2002, if the Afghani army is still unable to fight the Taliban. Please recall the Northern Alliance, a group of warlords with assistance from US special forces were able to route the Taliban in many areas at the start of the Afghani invasion. Yet today, the Afghani army needs to be backed by a large formation of US forces. Does something not seem wrong, does the quality seem to be backsliding
 
Did I say creating a democracy?

I said creating an Afghan army, something different entirely dont you think.


The Taliban can turn an Afghan into an effective fighter in a short period of time from the looks of it, why can not NATO turn Afghani's into an effective army in 7 years?

If we're not going to institute democratic reforms or ensure that the country is no longer a haven for terrorists, then why did we bother going in in the first place? If the only standard we're using is whether they had an Afghan army, then they were a success before we even got there.
 
To be honest, they really don't need a reason beyond not wanting to be there any more.

This. They don't want to fight a war anymore. Who are we to demand that they do so?


Also, notice how the OP still hasn't explained his Obama comment. I am utterly baffled that anyone could come up with such a statement related to this news.
 
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