Bookworm Room has a great story about the Danish government’s plan to meet a NATO request for additional troops in Afghanistan; the difference between the US and Denmark is that even the government’s political opposition is standing up to do the right thing: The decent Danish.

The Danish government has found broad backing in parliament for its plans to meet a NATO request to increase its number of troops in Afghanistan, national broadcaster DR reported on Tuesday.

The additional soldiers have been requested to help patrol the southern Hemland Province, an area that has been described as a ‘unsafe and complex’, and would more than double the Danish contribution to NATO’s Afghanistan contingent.

Defence Minister Soren Gade confirmed the possibility that troops would be sent, but kept further details under wraps. ‘The government has received a request from NATO, which we are willing to meet. Now we are discussing the matter with the other parties in parliament,’ Gade said. ‘Any troops we send would be under British command, but how many we send is still not decided.’

The government has allegedly proposed to send as many as 290 additional soldiers, increasing the total number of Danish forces in Afghanistan to 360. Both the government’s supporters and the opposition said they supported sending more troops.

‘The Danish People’s Party can support the mission, since it’s already agreed on in the new defence agreement,’ said Soren Espersen, the Danish People’s Party’s spokesman on foreign affairs. ‘In contrast to Iraq, there has never been any debate about Afghanistan, so we expect there will be broad backing for the mission. It’s logical to send more soldiers since NATO asks for it and we are already stationed there.’

The opposition’s Social Democrats said they agreed. ‘We would even support sending more troops than the government proposes,’ said Per Kaalund, defence issues spokesman for the Social Democrats. ‘Basically, we feel that it’s time to withdraw troops from Iraq, but it’s the government’s responsibility to make sure that there are enough troops to cover both areas.’