This excerpt from a column by Andrew Bolt, which discusses what's going on in Afghanistan, tells you a lot about how useless and weak most of our allies in NATO have become,

"(Australia) had some 250 SAS soldiers here to hunt the Taliban until the Government pulled them out last September, trusting to 1600 Dutch soldiers to take over.

Two officers who have liaised with Dutch forces say they see this as a chance to redeem the reputations their army lost at Srebrenica in 1995, when 400 Dutch peacekeepers guarding a United Nations "safe area" stood by as Bosnian Serb forces murdered 8000 Bosniak civilians.

But Dutch discipline isn't what it was. And the Dutch public -- like so many Europeans -- faints easily at the sight of blood.

The Leftist opposition wants to pull out.

So the Dutch troops have orders not to go chasing too hard for Talibani, or to shoot unless very sure their targets are on a list of wanted men.

That's not how our SAS did the job. They aggressively harassed the enemy before they could settle, or even sleep. Think how we play Test cricket, and add guns.

Not surprisingly, the Taliban are back in business around Tarin Kowt, so our SAS are returning to deal with them in un-Dutch ways.

Neither Nelson nor Gillespie want me to put the case that bluntly. It just gets our Dutch allies upset.

Gillespie concedes "the Dutch have a different approach to the one we'd take". But he insists "the Dutch are brave" and fight if they must.

He adds that he'd like to say as much of the Italian, German and French troops, "but I can't compare them because we haven't seen them in that environment".

He smiles. He means that all the other Europeans in Afghanistan - other than the British - keep their troops in the calm north, where there is no fighting to be done. So Europe declines."