THE Dutch troop deployment in Afghanistan, often held up as a model for other peace missions, ends after four years on Sunday amid concerns about the void it will leave.

About 1950 Dutch troops are deployed in Afghanistan under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), mainly in the southern Oruzgan province, where Australia has operated as junior partner to the Dutch since 2006.

As from Sunday, Dutch troops will be replaced by a US-lead multinational Combined Team Oruzgan comprising Australian, Slovak and Singaporean forces.



NATO had asked the Netherlands to extend the mission, which started in 2006 and has cost the lives of 24 soldiers, by a year to August 2011.



This sparked a political row that led to the Government collapsing in February and the end of the Dutch deployment.



Once the Dutch troops leave, Australia will take on some fresh responsibilities, including provision of a civilian to head the Oruzgan Provincial Reconstruction Team, a position previously held by the Dutch.



Australia will also take on an increased role in security for growing Australian civilian aid activity in the province.



Oruzgan is one of Afghanistan's poorest and most remote regions, where opium production is high and the Taliban very active.



The Dutch mission has become known for its 3D approach of defence, development and diplomacy.



Since the start of its lead role in Oruzgan at a cost of some 1.4 billion euros ($2.04 billion) to the Dutch state, the number of NGOs doing development work in the province has risen from six to 50, according to a Dutch embassy document.



It states that 50,000 children are attending school in Oruzgan, four times as many as in 2002.



A million fruit trees have been distributed to farmers to provide an alternative livelihood to poppy cultivation.



The Dutch are also helping to build a road between the province's two most populated towns, Chora and Tarin Kowt, in a bid to boost trade.



And it has trained 3000 Afghan soldiers, who "are now able to independently carry out operations," according to chief of defence, General Peter van Uhm.



"We offer the majority of the population relatively safe living conditions and advancements in health care, education and trade," chief of defence, van Uhm said of his troops' legacy in Oruzgan.



"We have achieved tangible results that the Netherlands can be proud of," he told a news conference today.



However, Rob de Wijk, director of The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, said the Dutch mission's work was not done.



"One does not leave as one starts registering success," he said.



Jan Kleian, president of the ACOM military union, said he had spoken to several soldiers on the ground, "and they are not happy to leave".



"They want to finish what they started; the mission is not completed," he said.



During a visit by Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende to Washington in July last year, US President Barack Obama described the Dutch troops as "one of the most outstanding militaries" in Afghanistan, and asked the country to consider staying on.



In a letter to Balkenende in February, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen wrote: "The standard which has been achieved by your armed forces and civilian personnel in one of the most challenging parts of Afghanistan has become the benchmark for others."



Afghan President Hamid Karzai has also thanked the Netherlands "for the work that Dutch soldiers and development workers have done, and are still doing, in building the country".



A Dutch Government spokeswoman said all Dutch ISAF troops would be back home by September while the hardware, including four F-16 fighter jets, would be repatriated by year-end.



Last month, the Australian Government also fixed a timeline for Australia's Afghanistan drawdown, which could see troops leave as soon as 2013 or as late as 2015.



Under this program, 2-4 years will be devoted to training Afghan forces to an acceptable standard, followed by perhaps a year with a reduced Australian force providing overwatch while Afghan forces take responsibility for the Oruzgan province.



Australia currently has 1550 troops in Afghanistan, most of them in Oruzgan.



- with AAP