AMSTERDAM, Nov 16 (Reuters) - The Dutch army leadership disagree with NATO's strategy of heavy combat operations in Afghanistan to keep the Taliban under control, fearing it would fuel more turmoil, a Dutch newspaper reported on Thursday. NRC Handelsblad quoted unnamed sources at the defence ministry as saying tension had emerged between the Netherlands and its NATO partners, the United States, Britain and Canada, over the Afghan peacekeeping mission. British, Dutch and Canadian forces are fighting a revived Taliban insurgency in the south of Afghanistan. The U.S.-led military alliance is facing fierce resistance from Taliban fighters in its biggest and most complex military operation. Sources told the NRC, a conservative newspaper widely respected in the Netherlands, that the Dutch chief of staff of the armed forces, Dick Berlijn, had taken a tough stance against his NATO partners. He told NATO allies in September that the mission should not be about eliminating the Taliban but winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people and maintaining support by the parliaments of NATO member countries, the paper said. "Continued fighting is a signal for both the Afghans and the capitals (of NATO allies) that the mission is not going well," a source told the NRC. "We don't want to give that signal." A spokesman for the Dutch defence ministry said the newspaper report was exaggerated and denied that there was tension between the Netherlands and its NATO partners. He acknowledged, however, that there were some disagreements. "In a difficult operation like this, it is normal to have some disagreements. But it is nothing major, it is on small things on the execution of the strategy," the spokesman said. "The chief of staff of the armed forces is in constant talks with his partners ... Most of the time they agree, sometimes they disagree. There is intense discussion," he added. The U.S.-led military alliance has called for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan but has been having trouble getting members to fill the gap. On Monday, Britain and the Netherlands urged the European Union to take responsibility for training Afghan police to help the embattled NATO peacekeeping force. More than 3,100 people, about a third of them civilians, have died in the fighting this year, the bloodiest since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban's strict Islamist government in 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks.
