Brussels

[Talk Talk]

Belgium hasn't done a lot in the way of invading.

No, of course not.They have never been involved in sending troops to another sovereign country.

http://sputniknews.com/world/20120806/175011325.html

Belgium Begins Afghanistan Troop Withdrawal

11:56 06.08.2012

The first group of Belgian soldiers from a detachment providing security at the Kabul airport has been withdrawn from Afghanistan, Belgian media reported.

Twenty-four Belgian soldiers and 10 from Luxemburg, part of the mixed platoon stationed at the airport of Kabul since 2003, have returned home.

Belgian soldiers will completely end their mission at the airport by September 30, Belgian broadcaster RTBF reported.

It is expected that in September–November 2012, five Belgian platoons, a total of 230 personnel, will leave Afghanistan. By the end of the year Belgium’s troop presence in Afghanistan will be reduced to 360 people from 626.

Six Belgian military F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft will be deployed in Afghanistan until the end of 2014, when Afghanistan will take over full control of the country’s security.

Earlier Belgian Defense Minister Pieter De Crem said that Belgian soldiers would maintain a presence in Afghanistan for three more years after 2014 in order to help Afghanistan create a national army.

[Reg Smeeton]

I was listening to Radio 4 this morning as well...and it's not the only media outlet making this point today either.  The gist is that Belgium is barely a country at all; rather a collection of loosely connected municipalities held together with bits of string.  There is no common Belgian identity or common language; it's all about whether you're Flemish or French-speaking.  National institutions barely exist, and agencies in different parts of the country barely talk to each other, let along the agencies in other countries.

Belgium is held together by a love of cycling.

Its African Empire when I was a kid, which consisted of The Congo and Rwanda/Burundi, was a byword for how not to do things a tradition set in motion by Leopold II.

Think it was the French influence....whose dabblings in Africa are largely the indirect reasons, for the present difficultes.

[Don Rogers Sock]

No, of course not.They have never been involved in sending troops to another sovereign country.

http://sputniknews.com/world/20120806/175011325.html

He did say hasn't done a lot to be fair

[Talk Talk]

Its African Empire when I was a kid, which consisted of The Congo and Rwanda/Burundi, was a byword for how not to do things a tradition set in motion by Leopold II.

Think it was the French influence....whose dabblings in Africa are largely the indirect reasons, for the present difficultes.

Yep.

http://study.com/academy/lesson/history-of-the-belgian-congo-imperialism-genocide-atrocities.html

The Belgian Congo is often cited as one of the most brutal and exploitative colonial regimes in modern history. It stands as an extreme example of the cruelty of European rule in Africa for the sake of economic gain.

It is in the recent past and memories are long...

[Talk Talk]

He did say hasn't done a lot to be fair

Ok then the Belgians in Iraq? I could go on and on...

Belgium decided on 26 September 2014 that it would send six F-16 Fighting Falcons and a number of Lockheed C-130 Hercules cargo planes, supported by 120 pilots and other staff, to support the military effort against ISIL in Iraq. Belgian air forces operate from Shaheed Mwaffaq Air Base located in Jordan. On 5 October, a Belgian F-16 dropped its first bomb on an Islamic State target, east of Baghdad. The contribution towards striking ISIL positions was discontinued on 30 June 2015 due to financial restraints, however 35 military advisors still remain in the country as of November 2015. The withdrawn F-16 aircraft spent six months in Jordan before returning home.