Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen has reacted angily to statements by the Labour party, one of the coalition partners, that the Netherlands' Afghanistan mission should end in 2011. Labour MPs said on Wednesday that US President Obama should call Madrid or Rome, not The Hague, if he wants help with his final troop surge.

Mr Verhagen says Labour is misrepresenting the facts. According to the minister, Spain and Italy promised earlier to send extra troops to Afghanistan.

Labour joined the coalition government of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende under several conditions, one of which was that the Dutch would not commit any troops to ISAF after the end of the current mission in 2010. The cabinet has not decided on the issue yet. A majority in the lower house opposes an extension.

The US ambassador to NATO, Ivo Daalder, has called on the Dutch to remain in Uruzgan province after next summer. In an open letter to the daily de Volkskrant daily, Mr Daalder, who is Dutch, praises the Netherlands as "a strong ally which has performed very well".

President Obama announced a 30,000 strong troop surge for Afghanistan and asked the US allies to send extra troops too.

Dutch FM Maxime Verhagen (ANP Photo)