France is to withdraw all 200 of its special forces engaged in the United States anti-terror operation in south-eastern Afghanistan, the government announced on Sunday.
The elite troops have been under US command near the Pakistani border since 2003 as part of the US operation to hunt down Taliban fighters after the September 11 2001 attacks.
France’s decision to pull out the troops comes amid mounting violence in Afghanistan, where the Taliban are returning to the fore despite some 32 800 Nato troops in the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf). Isaf commanders have recently been demanding more troops for the south, where the militants are most active.
Taliban militants have exploded more than 100 suicide bombs in the country so far this year, a more than five-fold increase from 2005. Seven French elite troops have been killed in action in Afghanistan and 12 others have been wounded.
The French defence ministry stressed that the withdrawal from the south-eastern city of Jalalabad did not signal a wider move to quit Afghanistan. France currently heads the Nato force in Kabul, contributing 1 100 of the city’s 2 000 troops.
On a visit to Kabul on Sunday, the French Defence Minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, said the withdrawal of special forces was part of a ”general reorganisation” of France’s foreign troops. She said French troops planned to train Afghan special forces from 2007 ”because it appears important to us that the Afghans see that it is their own forces which are retaking the theatre” of war. She said France’s air force would remain on a long-term basis and two new helicopters would be deployed.
The French President, Jacques Chirac, had discussed the French plans with his counterparts at the Nato summit in Riga last month. A defence ministry spokesperson said the decision had been made ”in concert with our partners, notably the Americans”. – Guardian Unlimited Â