NATO Wants Dutch in Afghanistan: NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told Dutch officials in Brussels Monday that it is time to end the squabble that prohibits some 1,400 Dutch troops from joining other alliance forces in southern Afghanistan. De Hoop Scheffer must be feeling the pain personally, as a former Dutch government official himself, but he cites the importance of fulfilling this mission to NATO’s standing in the world community fighting terrorism. The alliance is preparing to increase the size of its security force from 9,000 to 15,000, as it expands its peacekeeping operations into the restive southern region. And, we thought the problems were just France, Germany, and Spain.
The six-week government shutdown did not affect the hours flown by Air Force pilots, a service spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine—avoiding what could have been a major blow at a time when flying hours are already lower than they have been in decades.
