While a cabinet crisis about a possible extension of the Dutch ground troop mission to the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan is brewing in The Hague, another Dutch mission in Afghanistan is quietly continuing. We don't hear much about the F-16s deployed in the skies above the war-torn Afghan countryside. What are our combat pilots doing there and what role is the Netherlands playing in the murky Afghan conflict?

We don't know much about the Dutch F-16 mission to Afghanistan. The US is a bit more forthcoming with information about their air force. My request to spend some time with the Dutch pilots flying under the NATO flag in Kandahar is denied. When I arrive at the base, Commander Peter Tankink informs me that I will not be allowed to interview the pilots either. "I'll be your sole interview," he tells me.

Commander Tankink tells me that Afghanistan is guarded 24 hours a day by at least ten jets. The Netherlands has four F-16s in Afghanistan and Dutch pilots fly missions almost every day. Most of the missions fly over the dangerous provinces of Helmand and Kandahar.

Civilian deaths
Civilian casualties are a major cause of concern for Afghan President Hamid Karzai and fighter jets are responsible for the vast majority of them. According to a UN report, 359 civilians - about 60 percent of the total number of civilian deaths in Afghanistan – were killed by fighter jet operations in 2009. The Netherlands has been part of the F-16 mission since 2004. The Ministry of Defence has acknowledged just one incident involving Dutch F-16s and the death of innocent civilians since then. In September 2009, an unknown number of civilians, including women and children, were killed during an F-16 strike in Helmand province.

When I meet Commander Tankink, he is preparing to carry out one of the many missions flown over Afghanistan. Sitting in the cockpit of the sleek, matt-grey fighter jet, which is equipped with guns and both laser-guided and GPS-guided bombs, the commander flicks switches and turns knobs. He then taxies to the runway and takes off with a deafening boom before disappearing into the clouds a few seconds later. He refuses to release any details of the mission until after its completion, in case the insurgents get wind of it.

Three hours later, he returns from his mission above Helmand covered in sweat. He performed a reconnaissance flight for British soldiers planning to conduct on operation in the area. He tells me, "The guerrillas have to carry out preparations in order to plant roadside bombs. Reconnaissance is part of our job".

Bomb button
The commander says that around 60 percent of F-16 flights are planned operations; most of the missions involve reconnaissance, photographing the area and locating roadside bombs. However, F-16s are also called in to give air support to troops fighting on the ground. Commander Tankink says that he doesn’t reach for the bomb button very often, "over the last month, I've only used the guns once, to support British troops on the ground. Even then I only fired a warning shot". He says he can count the number of times that he's opened fire over the last three months on the fingers of one hand. What the other pilots did in recent months is information not released by the Ministry of Defence. "Sometimes it's enough to fly over the target as a show of force".

Commander Tankink shows me a video shot by an F-16 in 2008; insurgents are firing missiles at Dutch troops from behind a wall. They continue their attack despite the F-16s overhead. "Holy shit," says a contact person on the ground via a static-filled connection. Orders to bomb the three or four Taliban fighters come through. The video goes to black.

Dutch more cautious
Directly after taking command, US General Stanley McCrystal restricted the deployment of fighter jets. "Air strikes could lead to our downfall," he said. The priority has switched from protecting the US-led coalition forces to protecting the civilian population. Even though Commander Tankink doesn't hesitate when it comes to pushing the "red button", Dutch pilots are more cautious: "we are much more cautious when it comes to using weapons. We now ask ground troops to withdraw instead of immediately carrying out air strikes". The commander explains that houses and roads are regularly destroyed, and even though it was necessary at the time, the consequences for ordinary people are devastating, "people are trying to live their lives but they don't get a chance to make any progress".

The weak link in the chain of command when ordering air strikes is information from the ground. The situation is murky due to distrust between NATO and the Afghans, corruption within local government, the use of human shields and false reports from rival tribal leaders and it can all contribute to the Forward Air Controller (FAC) ordering a strike against the wrong target. The commander acknowledges there is corruption on the ground but immediately adds a rider – that the FAC is responsible for requesting air strikes. "Sometimes it's really not clear how things have managed to progress to the point that they have by the time we get there. But then it's not important any more because a battle is being fought and our troops are in danger”.