Listening to a BBC Radio yesterday a former Kabul correspondent referred to the exit of the Norwegian contingent from a northern province - Faryab (RC-North), after nine years and the apparent increase in local Taliban activity.

I had not seen any reporting here that Norway had left.

A quick search found they left in October 2012, with nine deaths:http://www.newsinenglish.no/2012/09/...istan-pullout/

A small presence remains (97 persons), probably a PRT and those in Kabul:http://www.isaf.nato.int/troop-numbe...rway/index.php

Given the closeness of the Nordic nations on many foreign policy matters I note both Denmark and Sweden have remained, with battalion-sized contingents - in RC-N and RC-SW respectively.