Gates expects Dutch to stay in Afghanistan

NOORDWIJK, Netherlands (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he expected the Netherlands next year to extend the mandate for a key 1,600-strong military presence in south Afghanistan despite domestic pressure to quit.

"I can't speak for the Dutch. I certainly hope so and I guess I would say I expect them to do so," Gates told reporters after he met Defense Minister Eimert van Middelkoop at NATO talks in the Dutch coastal resort of Noordwijk on Wednesday.

Dutch troops are based in the southern province of Uruzgan in the front-line of the battle between NATO's 40,000-strong peace force and Taliban insurgents. The Netherlands is due to decide next month whether to renew the mandate expiring in August 2008.