Agence France-Presse, France has no plans to pull its troops out of Afghanistan and will remain loyal to its allies serving in a multinational force there, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said June 5 “France will maintain its presence in Afghanistan,” Fillon told a joint news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
“There is no plan for France to disengage in Afghanistan. France will be true to its commitments and to its allies,” he said.
France has about 1,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of the 37,000-strong NATO contingent from 37 nations deployed to help local security forces fight the Taliban and wrest back control of the mountainous nation.
President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged before his election last month to bring French troops back home, while the United States has been calling for nations to contribute more forces to battle a Taliban insurrection.
But the president told foreign journalists in an interview this week that now was not the time to pull out.
“We do not have the mission to stay there forever, but to leave now would show a lack of unity with our allies,” Sarkozy was quoted as saying in The New York Times.
Sarkozy said a solution needed to be found “between the two extremes” to continue with the important job of training the Afghan army.
Two French aid workers kidnapped by the Taliban were released on April 28 and May 11 after Sarkozy left open the idea that the French troops could leave, as demanded by the Islamic militia.
Sarkozy earlier had a working lunch with Harper to discuss this week’s Group of Eight summit in Germany and the two agreed that G8 leaders must set “the most ambitious” targets to combat global warming, a presidential spokesman said.
Sarkozy and Harper will join leaders of Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States at the summit in the seaside resort of Heiligendamm starting June 6.
