Afstan: Dutch withdrawal planning--but maybe not completely/Canada?

Any lessons for the CF here (at least we won't face the long road trip)?

Afghanistan mission prepares for retreat
The Dutch military will retreat from Afghanistan this summer. Soldiers are rehearsing the withdrawal already.
...
The soldiers of the Redeployment Task Force in Schaarsbergen are only conducting drills this week, but come summer these convoys will ferry troops and equipment from the Dutch base Camp Holland to the city Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. From here, the soldiers and most of their gear will return to the Netherlands by air. Some equipment will be shipped to Pakistan by civilian contractors...

The Dutch will be handing over command in Uruzgan province on August 1. By then, the Redeployment Task Force will have arrived. Approximately 1,300 soldiers will be in charge of clearing the remains of the Dutch mission.

Nobody knows the exact number of soldiers required for the withdrawal, mainly because it is now uncertain how much equipment will have to be carried back. A team is currently drawing up an inventory of supplies that remain in Uruzgan.

General Jan Broeks, who is in charge of the Redeployment Task Force, summed up the equipment that would have to be moved back to the Netherlands no matter what: 4,000 containers and some 600 vehicles. Because the air strip at Camp Holland is being refurbished this summer, large cargo carriers will be unable to land there. All equipment will therefore have to be brought to Kandahar by road. The 180-kilometre road connecting the airport to Camp Holland is in poor repair and the frequent target of Taliban ambushes. Last year, supply convoys travelling the road came under attack. "That road is dangerous," said Broeks. "Also because we will be pretty predictable with such a large convoy."..

To reduce the size of the transport convoy, the Dutch military will try to sell as much of its materials to the allied troops remaining in Afghanistan. The Dutch command hopes to make some extra money by selling its armoured quarters to its successor. The problem is that Nato has yet to announce which nation will operate from Camp Holland. Until May, when the decision is expected [emphasis added, Brits maybe? see last para here], the soldiers rehearse the retreat without knowing whether they will be required in Uruzgan. "It is almost surprising how positive my men remain under these uncertain conditions," Broeks said...

Info on Canadian pullout planning at this post.

But the Dutch (unlike Canada as things now stand) may not bug out completely
militarily:

Parliament backs Afghanistan police mission, Labour still opposed

A majority of 80 MPs backs a compromise proposal by the left wing greens GroenLinks and D66 Liberals to send a 'sizeable' police mission to Afghanistan to train local officers, the Volkskrant reports on Thursday.

And the police trainers would be accompanied by soldiers to protect them, foreign minister Maxime Verhagen said, during Wednesday's debate on the plan.

D66 leader Alexander Pechtold said the proposal should bring an end to the 'deafening silence' about Afghanistan since the cabinet fell over the issue in February [more here]...

It is not clear how many police officers and soldiers would make up the mission. Earlier drafts of the proposal spoke of 50 trainers and 200 soldiers, but last night's motion did not include any figures.

It is now up to the cabinet to draw up a formal motion, but it is not sure this can be achieved before the June 9 general election, the Volkskrant said...

Our government has said it is sending 90 more CF trainers to Afstan--but presumably they will be withdrawn in 2011 when our military mission is to end. So it looks like we won't be able to help in the following regard for very long:

...
One of the problems being faced by Nato's Isaf (International Security and Assistance Force) in Afghanistan is a shortage of up to 450 trainers. Mr Rasmussen [NATO Secretary General] said yesterday that a number of countries, including Canada [emphasis added, the 90 mentioned above?], have made offers of personnel and insisted that "progress was being made"...

Well, our contribution to that need for trainers looks disgracefully short-term to me. And we may keep civilian police trainers on--without any military support for their security, unlike the Dutch plan:

Afstan and the government: Politically craven and immorally audacious

Indeed. And the Germans look like they're actually going to do a bigger bit while we're leaving.