Sarkozy arrives in Afghanistan following French troop deaths

Wednesday 20th August, 04:44 PM JST

KABUL —

French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Kabul on Wednesday in a show of support for the peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan a day after 10 French soldiers were killed in Taliban attack, an official said. Sarkozy is accompanied by his defense and foreign ministers, an Afghan official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Sarkozy was due to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai and 21 French soldiers wounded in the attack, he said.

On Monday Taliban militants ambushed a NATO patrol in Sarubi district, some 50 kilometers east of Kabul, and the fighting continued until Tuesday, NATO said in a statement. Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi, meanwhile, said 13 militants were also killed and 14 wounded in the clash. Zabiullah Mujahid, a purported spokesman for the Taliban, told Kyodo News over the telephone that Taliban forces killed 20 soldiers and destroyed five military vehicles in the attack. Sarkozy announced that he would fly to Afghanistan as soon as news of French deaths broke on Tuesday. It was the single biggest loss of life for international forces in combat in Afghanistan in more than three years. France has around 1,600 troops in Afghanistan operating under NATO.

Kyodo

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9 Comments

Madverts at 07:07 PM JST - 20th August

What a moral dilemna this tragic incident must pose for the resident neocon's.
adaydream at 09:51 PM JST - 20th August

It's a shame about the deaths of the French soldiers. Unfortunately deaths are occuring on all fronts. Every country that is/has been helping in the original war on terror has suffered. We need to get more troops in Afghanistan. < :-)
LIBERTAS at 09:54 PM JST - 20th August

Sarko is a confirmed Mossad agent, living in the Elysee. He'll tear-up, sob a bit, and then call Bibi to let him know that everything is "kosher!"
Sarge at 10:50 PM JST - 20th August

Madverts - What moral dilemma are you talking about?
rajakumar at 01:34 AM JST - 21st August

Afghanistan gots its first olympic medal, thanks to all in afghanistan/france/US who made this possible
majimekun at 04:51 AM JST - 21st August

I live in France and, believe me or not, the death of those soldiers has outraged all the medias and politicians. Personnally, I don't get it. It's incredible how many people are in denying of reality. Reality is : soldiers go to war and war can kill. Soldiers took those risks knowing this. But, turn on the radio here and you'll hear endless complains like "we should never have sent them on a war zone". WHAT?!! Are they supposed to spend their whole time inside warm offices?
adaydream at 05:27 AM JST - 21st August

majimekun - I can understand the outrage.

No matter what, people get upset when their soldiers die. We know that they enlisted, but we still have deep feelings for them.

We like to know that our troops are in a fighting zone with enough numbers. That they have the manpower and arms to fight effectively and to be able to fightoff any attack/counterattack. And the troops in Afghanistan have been short changed here. They have not had the right numbers of fighters for over 5 years.

There are a lot of people who are upset that these 10 French soldiers died, not just in France. < :-)
majimekun at 08:05 AM JST - 21st August

Sorry but I disagree. There will be dead soldiers even with better manpower. The GIs are technologically superior but it doesn't prevent them from dying in Iraq. Russians died too in Afghanistan.
adaydream at 09:16 AM JST - 21st August

Okay we disagree.

Russian deaths make me sad, also. < :-)