Amsterdam - A majority of Dutch lawmakers voted Tuesday against a new military mission being sent to the southern Afghan province of Uruzghan after 2010. The motion, filed by the Labour and Christian Union coalition parties during an emergency debate last week, received the support of many opposition parties from right to left.
In the motion, parliament also requested the right to to be informed by March 1 about the government's plans with regard to Afghanistan.
The Dutch have some 1,250 troops in Afghanistan as part of the Task Force Uruzghan (TFU) of NATO's International Security and Assistance Forces (ISAF) in Afghanistan. They also have another 630 troops operating elsewhere in the country.
The mission under debate concerns the TFU, due to end in August 2010. Remarks by foreign affairs minister Maxime Verhagen last week that he would not rule out a new, yet smaller military mission in Uruzghan or elsewhere, sparked heated debate in parliament last week.
The largest coalition party, the Christian Democrats, plus the Orthodox Christian SGP and liberal-left D66, both members of the opposition, did not support Tuesday's motion.
