Visiting French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said
Sunday that her country would withdraw the 200-strong French
special forces from Afghanistan soon, media reports said.
France would withdraw the special forces, which are stationed in
the eastern Nangahar province as part of the US-led coalition
troops, from Afghanistan in the coming weeks, the reports said.
Seven members of the French special force were killed in action
and a dozen others were wounded since their deployment to
Afghanistan after the US-led Afghan War in late 2001.
However, Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi told
Xinhua that during a closed-door meeting with her Afghan
counterpart Abdul Rahim Wardak, Alliot-Marie only said France would
withdraw some troops from eastern Afghanistan, and no deadline has
been set yet.
Meanwhile, Coalition spokesman Marcelo Carelo told Xinhua that
it was too early to comment on any final outcome of the possible
French withdrawal.
He also said: "The Coalition's commitment to engage in
counter-terrorism operations in Afghanistan remains unaffected by
the possible redeployment of forces."
Alliot-Marie started a three-day visit to Afghanistan from
Saturday, during which she also had met President Hamid Karzai.
About 10,000 coalition troops, the bulk of which are Americans,
are mainly stationed in eastern Afghanistan to hunt down
militants.
France has also deployed about 1,000 troops in Afghanistan as
part of the 32,000-strong NATO-led International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF).
(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2006)
