A parliamentary dispute about the future of the mission in Afghanistan has led to the collapse of the Dutch government, leaving its 1,600 troops in the war-torn country with an uncertain future.
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said Saturday that the second-biggest member of his uneasy, three-party coalition had backed out.
"Where there is no trust, it is difficult to work together. There is no road along which this cabinet can go further," Balkenende said.
Until an election, Balkenende's centre-right Christian Democratic Alliance party will hold only 47 seats out of 150.
It plans to operate as a caretaker government in the interim and an election could take place as early as May.
Before an election can be set, the ministers must formally resign to Queen Beatrix, who is the formal Dutch head of state. It is expected the resignation will occur when Beatrix returns from a ski holiday in Austria.
If the Dutch leave Afghanistan, it would come as NATO struggles to fill a quota of 10,000 additional troops. The troop increase from NATO follows a surge of 30,000 U.S. soldiers.
However, the Dutch collapse could be a harbinger for other European countries, who have been grappling with both economic uncertainty and a drop in public support for the war effort.
Still, NATO had hoped that the Dutch would remain in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, where they have been stationed since 2006.
Their initial two-year mission was extended to next August. Twenty-one Dutch troops have died since rotations began.
Balkenende had been pushing for a small force to stay in the country after the withdrawal deadline, but his Labour partners demanded that the government stick to its initial plan to leave in 2011.
"A plan was agreed to when our soldiers went to Afghanistan," said Labor Party leader Wouter Bos. "Our partners in the government didn't want to stick to that plan, and on the basis of their refusal, we have decided to resign."
Balkenende and Bos, who is the finance minister, had been at odds for weeks about the deployment. The prime minister said that pulling out of Afghanistan would damage the country's reputation and soften the resolve of other NATO nations.
Canada also plans to pull its 2,800 troops out of Afghanistan by the end of next year.
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has been pushing for a longer commitment from the Dutch.
In particular, he had hoped that the nation would maintain a reconstruction and transition team to help the local forces assume command.
Polls have suggested that support for the Afghan war in the Netherlands continues to plummet.
With files from The Associated Press
