Dutch courage

It's been said that the Dutch are a stubborn lot. Maybe so, but they're not stupid. They put on their wooden walking shoes today, and walked out of southern Afghanistan.

That discretion is the better part of valour is an old cliche, [and the joke about Dutch courage is ancient. ed.] but it seems to me that it's a wise man -- or nation -- that knows enough to get out of a fight you can't possibly win. When you've dug yourself into a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging!

The Netherlands, along with Canada, Britain and Denmark, led the way into southern Afghanistan in mid-2006 as part of NATO's controversial expansion. Since then, Dutch troops have been patrolling Uruzgan, a mountainous province that is rather quiet compared with Kandahar and Helmand, where the Canadians and British are dying. Now the USA will take responsibility for Uruzgan, along with soldiers from the great military powers of Australia, Slovakia and Singapore.

Canadian Press has an interesting comment from Maj-Gen. Lewis Mackenzie (ret'd.), who called the Dutch withdrawal "democracy in action". Since General Mackenzie is not known to stray very far from the Tory party line -- indeed he is rumoured to be looking to become an MP -- we can assume his fearless leader, Stephen Harpoon, is getting set to play the public opinion card as a rationale for not extending the Canadian mission beyond next July.

What bothers me is that it took the Dutch to demonstrate that it's OK to admit to a big mistake and back off. That's real courage.