The Dutch mission in the Afghan province of Uruzgan must not be extended – that is the message of a leaflet distributed today by the 'Troops Out of Afghanistan' Committee. The Committee includes the SP, the Green Left party, the Stop the War coalition and the Platform against the New War. The leaflet, which takes the form of a newspaper presenting the Committee's arguments against the prolongation of the mission, has a print run of 250,000, a huge number for a country whose population is just under 16.5 million. SP foreign affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel explained that the paper "puts the arguments behind the wish of the majority of the population that there should be no prolongation of the mission in Uruzgan. We can and must help the Afghan people, but in another way.'
Read more