Dutch want out while Brits face WW2 casualty rate

A recent poll conducted for Radio Netherlands Worldwide finds that almost 55% of Dutch citizens (polled at home and abroad) want to see their troops pulled out of Afghanistan at the end of their current commitment next year. Dutch troops are upholding the NATO mission in Uruzgan province, next door to Kandahar, where Canadian Forces operate.

Meanwhile, the Telegraph reports that the British military operating in Helmand province (also next door to Kandahar) is suffering a casualty rate (deaths plus serious injuries) of 10%. "Senior officers fear it will ultimately pass the 11 per cent experienced by British soldiers at the height of [World War 2]." The figure represents a tenfold increase in British casualties in the past six months. British troops in Iraq, meanwhile, are enduring a higher death rate than their American counterparts, according to the article.