Jan Peter Balkenende announcing the collapse of his coalition government.

The Dutch premier wanted to extend Dutch troop deployment in the NATO-led mission.

But coalition partners in the Labor Party disagreed.

It's the fourth time a cabinet led by Balkenende has fallen in eight years.

The country is among the top 10 contributing nations to the mission.

Parliamentary elections could be held within months, and will probably lead to another coalition government.

Polls suggest the right-wing Freedom Party could become the largest party.

They've called for an end to the Afghan mission which started in 2006, and is scheduled to end in August.

NATO had asked the Netherlands to extend its mission as the alliance seeks to contain the Taliban insurgency.