[Dawn] Kazakhstan agreed on Tuesday to allow French military personnel and equipment to transit through the Central Asian state to Afghanistan.Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy oversaw the signing of the transit agreement by their foreign ministers.
It was not immediately clear whether Kazakhstan, which has no direct border with Afghanistan, will be used as a transit point for French airlifts, or it will be part of a land route also involving Russia and other ex-Soviet states.
Earlier this year, Kazakhstan allowed the United States to ship non-lethal supplies for its Afghan troops through its territory as Washington tried to diversify supply routes due to frequent attacks on convoys in Pakistan.
The deal follows a similar agreement between the United States and Russia which has said it would also negotiate transit for US allies including France.
The US-led coalition has boosted troop numbers in Afghanistan in an effort to suppress the Taliban insurgency which, according to some analysts, threatens to spill into Central Asia.
France is also in talks with Kazakhstan's southern neighbour Kyrgyzstan to renew an agreement allowing French military to use the Kyrgyz Manas air base to support Afghan operations.