By IRNA,
Berlin, Jan 28, IRNA — Dutch lawmakers gave green light early Friday to sending police trainers to Afghanistan following a heated two-day debate, according to Dutch news reports.
As part of the plan, around 545 Dutch military personnel will be deployed in northern Afghan province of Kunduz until the year 2014 for the training program, for which German soldiers would provide protection.
Furthermore, the Hague is to deploy four F-16 fighter jets with some 120 flight and ground personnel who were to have been pulled out of Afghanistan.
The new Afghan mission is extremely unpopular among the Dutch as only 25 percent of them are in support of it.
The Netherlands was the first European country to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan in August.
Around 2,000 Dutch soldiers were based in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan since 2006.
Some 24 Dutch troops were killed and 140 wounded during the Afghanistan mission.