Posted on 02/02/2008 10:26:51 AM PST by knighthawk
Brussels - Belgium is going to deploy 100 soldiers and four F-16 fighter planes in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province. For four months starting in September, the Belgian forces will support Dutch troops stationed in the Afghan province.
The move comes in response to a NATO call for more troops to be deployed in Afghanistan. At the moment, Belgium has 360 soldiers in Afghanistan, most of them at Kabul airport.
Germany has rejected a more recent United States call for more troops to be deployed in war-torn southern Afghhanistan. In an unusually frank letter, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates had urged his German counterpart Franz Josef Jung to agree to an extra German deployment.
However, the government in Berlin says it prefers to concentrate on reconstruction work in the northern part of the country. For some time, there has been disagreement within NATO on the levels of troops committed by member states to the Afghan force.
Ping
Have you seen this? Is it being reported up there?
Belgian troops shou;ld be fighting the Jihad in their own country.
Kinda like the war we are losing at home.
Good news. Yea Belgium.
The Netherlands is one of the nations, like Canada, Great Britain and the US, that is recognized as punching at or above its weight in the south. Belgium's contribution is not as well recognized as it does not get the press in Canada that the Netherlands gets, but it does deploy ground troops to the south. It also deploys combat aircraft.
Thank you, Belgium!
Their help is much appreciate, knighthawk, as is the help from The Netherlands.
Don’t think we will forget it.
Netherlands has that too. I also think Germany has something like that too.
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