Defense Technology International - July 2007 - (Page 26)

WARFARE DAVID AXE/DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL PHOTOS GUERRILLA WILL TO WIN Dutch army slugs it out with Taliban despite political misgivings DAVID AXE•TARIN KOWT, AFGHANISTAN here was a sound like a thunderclap and a column of debris curled into the sky two blocks away. A platoon of Australian soldiers, lounging in their makeshift camp at a boys’ school in this impoverished capital of Uruzgan province on June 16, leaped to their feet, scrambled to strap on body armor and fumbled with weapons—their eyes drawn to the thickening pall of smoke spreading from the blast. The signals sergeant was radioing for information; the platoon leader, Lt. Cliff, who like many coalition soldiers gave only his ﬁrst name for security reasons, donned his helmet and ran down the road to see what was happening. One thing was clear: The 2,000-strong Dutch and Australian reconstruction team—part of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force and the only major military formation in this isolated province—was under attack. Reports rolled in. It was a Taliban suicide bombing targeting a Dutch education delegation and its armored infantry escort visiting a girls’ school to celebrate U.N. International Women’s Day. Many children had died and some Dutch soldiers were wounded, one gravely. Cliff asked his commander if the platoon could go help, but the response was no. They were to stick to their task of guarding Australian engineers repairing a soccer ﬁeld at the school. The Dutch would handle the bombing: securing the site, evacuating casualties and collecting forensic evidence. The Aussies were 26 T miffed but did what they were told. Besides, the Dutch army, hounded by a reputation for cowardice, had a lot to prove, and this might be their chance. Word came later that the most seriously injured Dutch soldier, 20-year-old Pfc. Timo Smeehuyzen, had died of his wounds. That night, as the Aussie troops stretched out on the hard, rocky earth to sleep, the thump of artillery was heard in the distance. Dutch forces were ﬁghting back. And they continued fighting over the next four days, ultimately emerging victorious from their ﬁrst major combat since the Korean War, thanks to bigger and better ground weapons, air support, superior training and a close relationship with the local Afghan militia. But in a tragic repeat of recent history, the Dutch government undermined its own army. In the days following the battle, The Hague announced a retreat from Uruzgan at the end of the present deployment, turning victory into defeat and proving again that political weakness trumps tactical prowess. The Uruzgan mission was never popular in the Netherlands. The country still reels from its disastrous peacekeeping experience in Bosnia. In July 1995, a battalion of Dutch soldiers stationed in a U.N.-designated “safe zone” in Srebrenica stood by as Bosnian Serb ﬁghters murdered 7,000 Muslim civilians. Subsequent investigations mostly blamed the U.N. and Dutch political leaders for deploying troops without the weapons and author- Dutch howitzer crew ﬁres 155mm. rounds during battle with the Taliban in Chura on June 16. ity to defend themselves, much less entire towns. Despite the government’s culpability, Dutch soldiers bore the brunt of public resentment in a sad echo of the U.S. military’s experience after Vietnam. The shame heaped on the Dutch armed forces was exacerbated by accelerating postCold War reductions in manpower and equipment. The armored corps dwindled from several division equivalents of tanks to a couple of battalions. The air force lost roughly half of its F-16 ﬁghters and all of its P-3 maritime patrol planes. The navy saw half of its frigates prematurely retired and sold, leaving it with just 10 major warships. So it was with baby steps that a diminished Dutch military followed its major allies into the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. From 2003 to 2006, the Dutch army and marine corps occupied sparsely populated Al Muthanna province, saw little combat and lost just two soldiers. The departing Dutch force turned over their main base to an Australian contingent, presaging the two militaries’ peculiarly intimate relationship in Afghanistan. In August 2006, the Dutch army assumed responsibility for Uruzgan province, installing 1,400 Dutch and 600 Australian soldiers at “Kamp Holland” 5 mi. south of Tarin Kowt, allowing the heavy U.S. forces in the province to shift eastward. www.aviationweek.com/dti DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL JULY/AUGUST 2007 http://www.aviationweek.com/dti

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Defense Technology International - July 2007

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