Free Republic

Amsterdam - Dutch troops have killed 'several dozen' Taliban fighters over recent weeks in the south-central Afghan province of Uruzgan, the commander of the task force in the province said in an interview published in Saturday's Dutch press. Colonel Henk Morsink, whose troops are preparing the ground for the arrival in August of around 1,400 Dutch troops, said one of those killed was 'an important Taliban commander.' Morsink said there had been no Dutch casualties in six engagements around the city of Tarin Kowt since April, although a particularly fierce battle on May 30 had tested the force. 'Our men...

THE HAGUE, 11/02/06 - More and more people are leaving the Netherlands. As the birth rate is also falling, population growth in 2005 was as a result the lowest since 1900, according to data released Friday by the Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS). Last year, 121,000 Dutch people emigrated abroad, compared with 110,000 a year earlier. The number of immigrants was much lower, unchanged from 2004 at 94,000. Among these, the numbers from traditional immigration countries such as Turkey and Morocco shrank considerably. Half of the emigrants were born in the Netherlands. Among these, more and more emigrate to countries...