The defence ministry has no information on the deployment or the whereabouts of the Afghan police officers who were trained by Dutch instructors.

National daily de Volkskrant and current affairs programme Nieuwsuur (News Hour) came to this conclusion based on a series of interviews with Afghan police officers.

The defence ministry reportedly does not know how many officers were involved in gun battles and whether or not they violated any of the rules the cabinet agreed to when it sought parliamentary support for the training mission. Under these rules, officers are allowed to defend themselves but not take part in offensive operations. Also, the police officers never underwent the ten-week follow-up training that was promised to parliament.

A defence ministry spokesperson told de Volkskrant that the agreement with parliament is being complied with. The ministry says it has access to Afghan after-action reports and any violations of the agreements are investigated.

(gsh)

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