The Cabinet on Thursday approved contributing up to 1,400 Dutch troops to a NATO expansion into a high-risk area of southern Afghanistan, but said it would seek the endorsement of a deeply divided parliament.

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said the Cabinet endorsed the mission to help stabilize Afghanistan and rebuild the nation after decades of war.

Earlier this month, NATO foreign ministers approved plans to send up to 6,000 troops into southern Afghanistan next year, a major expansion of the alliance's peacekeeping mission into some of the most dangerous parts of the country.

The deployment will free up US forces to focus on counterinsurgency operations against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan's volatile south and east.

Parliament's approval was far from certain, however, with objections coming from most of the opposition parties. The referral to parliament was an unusual step, since the Cabinet has the authority to deploy troops without a parliamentary vote.

But the Afghan issue became publicly sensitive after the leak of a military intelligence warning that the troops could be exposed to attacks by a resurgent Taliban in a highly dangerous area of Afghanistan and could suffer heavy casualties.

Also weighing heavily on the parties as they head toward elections in 2007 was the public discontent after the government sent troops to Iraq.

Failure to contribute troops to NATO's expansion into southern Afghanistan could severely tarnish the Dutch standing in the alliance.

(Chinadaily.com via agencies December 23, 2005)