Three Ds, Four Roles

Development, Defense and Diplomacy should be the three legs of any stabilization operation, says the recently returned commander of the first Netherlands-Australian Task Force in southern Afghanistan. Brigadier General Theo Vleugels, of the Royal Netherlands Army, led the 1,500-strong task force in Uruzgan province (near Kandahar) during its first six months of operations between August 2006 and February 2007.