International

SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel believes that the Dutch police tariners stationed in the Afghan region of could be withdrawn earlier than scheduled. Referring to an article in the national daily De Volkskrant, he says that Tom Middendorp, Commander of the Armed Forces, had let it be known that there were now enough Afghans capable of offering basic training to their own police. ‘If the Commander thinks that the Dutch trainers are no longer needed, it would be better to bring them back to the Netherlands straight away.’

Because the Afghans are doing basic training themselves, the Dutch are for the most part concerned with training the trainers, who increasingly train police officers beyond Kunduz. It is also more than possible that these Afghans, after training by the Dutch, are offering training to the semi-military border police. Training police officers and border police outside Kunduz contravenes the government’s agreement with Parliament.

‘The good news is that the article in De Volkskrant made clear that the Dutch trainers could be withdrawn early,’ says Van Bommel. ‘The Afghans can, after all, evidently take care of the training of police officers in Kunduz themselves. I will be calling on the minister in the coming debate to bring the trainers back earlier than planned. The sooner the mission in Kunduz is brought to an end the better. In addition, I want to know what he has to say about these people possibly training border police, which was not the aim of this mission.’