The Dutch government won parliamentary support on Friday to send a mission to Afghanistan to train police, a year after the last coalition collapsed because of divisions over whether to pull its troops out. A total of 545 men and women will be deployed, including police and military trainers, soldiers and military command specialists. The mission is to become fully operational in May.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte won over three small opposition parties in the final hours ahead of a vote seen as a key test of his minority Liberal-Christian Democrat coalition. "It is in our interest to prevent the consequences of extremism in Afghanistan and it is important because we are committed to Afghanistan and cannot just give up on it," Rutte said in comments broadcast by Dutch television station NOS.
Geert Wilders' anti-Islam Freedom Party, the coalition's chief ally in parliament, had opposed the proposed Afghanistan mission, as did Labour, the largest opposition party. Losing the parliamentary vote would have been a blow for Rutte ahead of provincial elections on March 2 as these help determine the make-up of the Dutch Senate.
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