19 September 2007

BRUSSELS – The Netherlands cannot leave Afghanistan, NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in an interview with the NRC Handelsblad on Wednesday.

The comments from the former CDA leader and former minister put a great deal of pressure on the debate in the Dutch government on a possible extension of the mission in Uruzgan.

"No one can leave Afghanistan," De Hoop Scheffer told the paper. "And no one will leave. I honestly cannot imagine that the Netherlands is going to leave the region on its own."

De Hoop Scheffer admits the initial agreement was that the Netherlands would stay in Afghanistan for two years. After that NATO would ensure that another country would take on the Dutch tasks. "But if NATO must solve this, that is NATO including the Netherlands."

[Copyright Expatica News + ANP 2007]

Subject: Dutch news