France, poised to expand its military commitment in Afghanistan, will push this week for a more focused allied plan to battle Taliban insurgents and rebuild the country, the French government said Tuesday. Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner “will express the need for the alliance to develop a true strategy in Afghanistan” when he meets in Brussels Thursday with foreign ministers at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting. | A French general must be in charge, naturally ... |
The Paris newspaper Le Monde reported last week that French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who will announce France’s plans at a NATO summit next month in Bucharest, wants to send the additional troops to the east to fight with Americans, rather than to the south with the Canadians. Pascale Andreani, senior spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry, refused to comment on the report but said France isn’t ignoring Canada’s request. “We have certainly heard the call of Canada,” she said at a news conference today. “As I said to you, we are in the process of preparing a decision that will be announced in Bucharest.”
She also noted that France has already recently boosted its efforts in Afghanistan, sending Mirage fighter jets to Kandahar and expanding efforts to train the Afghan National Army. French officials stress repeatedly that Canadians should recognize the country has more than 15,000 troops in various peacekeeping and peacemaking missions overseas, including about 2,000 in Afghanistan.
Some analysts have suggested that France, which has historically tried to push the image of French “greatness” abroad, would rather fight alongside American troops in the east than play a junior role to Canada in the south because Canada is a middle power that gets almost no media attention in Europe. But one official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said France’s interest in locating more troops in the east has far more to do with operational and logistical issues and less to do with enhancing French prestige.
| "Non, non, certainement pas!" |