Thursday, June 16 – According a decision which has been taken by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, this country is going to deploy around 545 troops in Afghanistan during 2011-2014.
In a report which was published by the Arabic Daily Al-Watan of Saudi Arabia, the deployment of the new troops are going to take place in the next few days and would be deployed in northern Kunduz province of Afghanistan.
The wave of insurgency and violence have increased dramatically in northern Afghanistan and Kunduz is expected to be the focus of Taliban militants. However, the new deployment by the Kingdom of Netherland will focus to train the Afghan police.
According to sources, NATO-led forces in Afghanistan have decided to change the transit which was previously coming through Pakistan. The new route which is considered by NATO forces for their transit of equipments would be through Tajikistan via Kunduz province.
Taking into consideration, the new change in route will most probably attract new waves of violence in northern Afghanistan especially in Kunduz province.
Around 1950 Dutch troops were stationed in Uruzgan province previously. Uruzgan province is among the unstable provinces in southern Afghanistan where opium production is high and is considered to be a strong hold for the Taliban insurgents.
At least 25 Dutch soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan during their 4 years mission in the country. Dutch forces ended up their mission last August in Afghanistan due to a request by NATO for the extension of the Dutch mission in Afghanistan which sparked a political row that led to the collapse of the government in February last year.
The Dutch mission would be supported by 4 F-16 fighter jets. Their mission is to find roadside bombs and to boost Dutch security on the ground. Also, the German troops in the area would ensure the security of the Dutch trainers.
The Dutch team also include technical support personnel including medical and logistics experts.
