AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
The Hague: The offensives against NATO forces in Afghanistan are particularly strong this spring, the commander of the Dutch armed forces said Thursday, shortly after Dutch soldiers were ambushed in the south of the country.
“We were expecting a resurgence of offensives in spring, but not like this. However the attacks are not of such a nature that it will keep us from carrying out our mission,” General Dick Berlijn said at a press briefing in The Hague.
Earlier Thursday Dutch soldiers escaped unharmed from an ambush in the southern Uruzgan province where the troops are stationed as part of the NATO-led ISAF force in Afghanistan.
“During the ambush Apache helicopters intervened. There were no casualties on the Dutch side and the attackers withdrew,” General Berlijn said.
General Berlijn warned journalists not to attribute every attack to the Taliban.
“It could also be other groups who reject (Afghan President Hamid) Karzai or farmers upset that the convoys destroyed their field or even people who want to take our equipment,” he said.
It was not the first time that the Dutch soldiers have been fired upon.
The Netherlands is due to send a total of 1,400 soldiers to Uruzgan as part of the ISAF force. Some 600 troops are already on the ground in Afghanistan to prepare for arrival of the Dutch mission in August.
