Camp Holland

Kamp Holland is the main Dutch military base on the outskirts of Tarin Kowt, the provincial capital of Uruzgan province in southern Afghanistan.

The Dutch are present in Uruzgan as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan.

History

The first group of Dutch military personnel left for Afghanistan in March 2006 in the Deployment Task Force (DTF). They were the quartermasters for the following Dutch forces of the Task Force Uruzgan (TFU) becoming operational in August 2006.

They took over the former US Forward Operating Base (FOB) Ripley, rebuilt the facility to accommodate the Dutch operational needs and renamed it Kamp Holland.

The average strength is 1,200 personnel split over the locations Tarin Kowt and Deh Rawod.

Deployed units

Key

Units

Current situation

As the Task Force Uruzgan (TFU) is a composite unit it consists of various units and specialties of the Dutch armed forces, therefore Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Special Forces and Military Police personnel are completely integrated in the TFU.

The TFU "hard core" is the Battlegroup, consisting of infantry - Dutch Airmobile or Marines btn - and some 155mm mechanized howitsers for firesupport. In case the Battlegroup needs close air support, the Dutch Air Task Force - consisting of F-16 multiroles stationed at Kandahar Airfield and AH-64D Apache combat helicopters stationed at Tarin Kowt- will provide it.

An important item of the overall mission is the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT). PRT is responsible for the supervision of all technical and logistical support to rebuild the Afghan province of Uruzgan. The PRT is part of ISAF and is placed under NATO command.

From their Regional Kandahar Hq, Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom take their 6-months turns in commanding all NATO military personnel spread over the area.

In December 2009 approximately 1,300 Dutch and 390 Australian personnel were stationed at Kamp Holland.

The Australian 2nd Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force (MRTF-2) is also based at Camp Holland.

MRTF-2 is engaged in reconstruction, mentoring and security operations in Uruzgan Province.

The bulk of the MRTF is composed of elements from the 3rd Brigade (Australia) (Townsville), with support elements drawn from the 1st Brigade (Australia) (Darwin) and from the Navy and Air Force.

MRTF-2 includes 2 Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams (OMLTs) whose mission is to assist in the development of the 4th Brigade of the Afghan National Army. Australian soldiers that operate in the OMLTs live with, train and provide support to their Afghan National Army colleagues in patrol bases in Uruzgan Province. In so doing, the OMLTs continue to develop the capability of the 2nd Afghan Kandak and the 4th Afghan Kandak.

MRTF-2 also includes two Combat Teams (CT) which undertake security operations within Uruzgan Province in order to enhance the security environment in the province. These CT's are operationally integrated in the Dutch Battlegroup.

Current use

The base is now home to Combined Team Uruzgan (CTU) consisting of American and Australian troops.

See also

References

    External links

    Coordinates: 32°36′50″N 65°52′00″E / 32.61389°N 65.86667°E / 32.61389; 65.86667

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