France Will Pull 1,000 Troops Out Of Afghanistan By End Of 2012, Says President Nicolas Sarkozy

By Philippe Wozajer

KABUL, July 12 (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said during a visit to Afghanistan on Tuesday that France will pull out 1,000 troops from its mission there by the end of 2012, as it speeds up its withdrawal with the United States.

Sarkozy -- on an unannounced five-hour visit to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai and General David Petraeus and drop in on French troops in the region of Surobi -- said France's remaining soldiers would be based in Kapisa province.

France has some 4,000 soldiers in Afghanistan.

"We will pull out a quarter of our contingent, which is to say 1,000 soldiers, between now and the end of 2012," Sarkozy said in a speech to French troops at a base near Kabul.

Sarkozy's visit followed a trip by U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at the weekend and comes after the United States and France said in June that they would pull soldiers out earlier than expected from the nearly decade-old military campaign against Taliban insurgents.

French soldiers have been involved in the U.S.- and NATO-led Afghanistan operation since 2001 and France has lost 64 soldiers from its 4,000-strong contingent, including a soldier killed on Monday by an accidental shot from his own camp in Kapisa.

The early pullout could give Sarkozy a boost ahead of the April 2012 presidential election, where he faces a tough battle from the leftwing opposition to win a second term.

An opinion poll after the U.S. killing of former al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in May showed more than half of French people support a withdrawal.

Sarkozy's speech to French soldiers came two days before France's "Bastille Day" national day, which marks the start of the 1789 revolution and will this year honour troops on foreign missions.

Sarkozy's visit also comes shortly after the surprise release of two French TV journalists who had been held hostage by the Taliban for a year and a half in Afghanistan and who were greeted as heros on their return to France at the end of June. (Additional reporting by Emmanuel Jarry in Paris; Writing by Catherine Bremer; editing by Michael Roddy; )

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[Adelheid Walter]

04:25 AM on 07/16/2011

Frau Prof.Elke Brandstäter-Walter to her friends, Stuttgart, the 18.07.2011

Dear friends,
I have posted comments at rus.ruvr.ru and though they have been able to find Osama Bin Laden.
You just have to put in atGoogle search Elke Brandstäter-Walter und Attentate or only ElkeBrandstäter-Walter instead of Ä you can use although an a and an e.

Sincerely
Prof.Elke Brandstäter-Walter
Your Representative for the United States in Stuttgart Germany and Representative for Russia

[Sunil Weliwitigoda]

06:45 AM on 07/13/2011

Bastille day celebrates the release of political prisoners, from the autocratic feudal rule of the French Monarchy. A good time to get your troops home, insted of using them to subvert other peoples freedoms and rights, which is against Batille day. Seems that France under Sarkozy is a good poodle of the USA, joining hands with it to subvert other nation's freedoms. As such , Sarkozy's announcement that France (and not Sarkozy) will be pulling out 1,000 troops out of Afghanistan is right, because both Sarkozy the US Poodle and Obama, the US MIC Poodle won't be around to pull out or put in anything by that time.

[caseyjosh]

09:42 PM on 07/12/2011

Well Frenchy, I guess its time to take that white flag down and surrender to someone else ... ze Germans are coming

[wom122]

07:28 PM on 07/12/2011

Let's hope our troops will be next.

[cavekarst]

05:01 PM on 07/12/2011

Thank you France. I promise not to say another harsh word about the French for three hours.

[mystshy]

03:26 PM on 07/12/2011

why wait???????????????

[mislz7]

02:52 PM on 07/12/2011

Sarkozy is a war criminal. Hillary Clinton needs to call for his ouster.

[rossandsheila]

01:58 PM on 07/12/2011

What did the 4000 French troops even do in Afghanistan? You never heard one word about them doing any fighting or dirty work.

[Adam Hose]

02:38 PM on 07/12/2011

Just out of curiosity, what was your job when you were in Afghanistan?

[1frank]

01:18 PM on 07/12/2011

to thev one trashing the French for pulling out just like the Canadian did and questioning their history as well as their courage.
WWI French losse;s 4.29 % of the entire population for months up to 6000 soldiers a day
USA losse's 0.13%
WW2 French losse's 1.35% of the entire population
USA losse's 1.32%
Vietnam French losses 75 581
USA losse's 211454 to achieve the exact same result

Side note on WW2 while the USA pretending to be an allied they were fully financing the Nazi in their war effort , they were negotiating with the Nazi -French governement of Vichy with envoy to Admiral Darlant in Algier , which was promptly assassinated by a resistant during Chistmas Eve while De Gaulle and Churchill were celebrating Chriastmas eve , they don't tell you that on Fox .
The Murdoch new agencvy that spy on everyone .....and brain wash you
By the way I thought bill o'really would resign if they did not find w.m.d in iraq .......

[drmadhobo]

01:53 PM on 07/12/2011

dont you have more conspiracy videos to watch or something?

[rossandsheila]

02:00 PM on 07/12/2011

You are slow to apprehend.

[RobertRob]

12:54 PM on 07/12/2011

This is not our fight People Bin laden is dead he has got what he wanted to get the US & Its allies into a quagmire of debocles & wasted trillions 4 what ?????

[Drew Sargent]

12:28 PM on 07/12/2011

Too little too late. I know you have better sensibilities than that. Have another glass of wine and rethink your position. Per favore.

[1frank]

01:20 PM on 07/12/2011

the afgan president said we were not welcome , solet hinm enjoy his peacefull country .

[checkmoot]

12:24 PM on 07/12/2011

Why don't you prove you're smarter than Obama and get them all out. This year. Not 2012.

[Tyler Pousson]

12:19 PM on 07/12/2011

Why don't Americans like the French? I mean, the jokes are funny and all but I still don't get it...

[Adam Hose]

12:48 PM on 07/12/2011

WWII, Veitnam, the 86 bombing of Lybia, nuclear testing treaty, and a few others. I personaly don't dislike the French, but those are some of the reasons.

[Adam Hose]

01:04 PM on 07/12/2011

Well, I tried posting and it didn't go though. I'll try again. WWII, Vietnam, 86 Libya bombing, nuclear testing treaty, and a few others. I personaly don't dislike the French, but those are a few reasons.

[Tyler Pousson]

02:25 PM on 07/12/2011

You're right the sooner they fall in line, think like us, and fear our god, the better off they'll be.

[1frank]

12:13 PM on 07/12/2011

Isee a lot of trashing toward France in these post , most are by ignmorant peoplesv not aware that France has taken refugies from these war ravaged region by the multiples ten of thousands wether they were from Vietnam , iraq and so on , France is right is leaving Afganistan , after all the Afgan President Himself asked them to limit their actions , you cannot fight a war in these conditions , there is only one solution everyone leave and they solve their problems themselves .
As far as all the idiots and they seem to be prevalent , just do the serarch ww1 casualty and ww2 casualty both are American site , on ww1 you will find that France lost up mto 6000 soldiers a day , for months , it was so bad that the Geneeral in charge of the American troops forbid the US soldier to go to the front as the war they were fighting was something they nebver experience , in the few weeks or couples months still managed to get chew uop by the German . The very same during ww2 while the USA claimed to be fighting the German they actually were finanving their war effort .

[rossandsheila]

02:15 PM on 07/12/2011

I do not think I have read a more poorly constructed comment than this one. Your spelling is simply awful,no sentence structure, no punctuation, poor grammar.

[Adam Hose]

12:09 PM on 07/12/2011

Thank you France for the loss of your brave soldiers that have paid the ultimate sacrifices for our cause.

[defend2ndamend]

12:57 PM on 07/12/2011

for our cause?...aren't terrorists terrorizing the world?

[Adam Hose]

01:12 PM on 07/12/2011

Oh man. I love it when people get online and try to over analyze or pick apart somebody's statement in order to have an online fight. To answer your question,
yes, and yes. It's primarily our fight so they are helping our cause. Yes terrorist organizations have been operating around the world, but since France had worked out agreements with Gaddafi in the 80's and has been helping to disarm unexploded Isreali ordinances in Lebanon, they have not been the main target. Now run along and pick apart somebody else's comments.