France To The Rescue In Afghanistan
VILNIUS, Lithuania - France is likely to send forces to join the fight against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan and planned talks Friday with Canadian officials requesting 1,000 troops to support its beleaguered soldiers in volatile Kandahar province. Germany has refused to respond to NATO’s need for troops to help the actual fighting in southern Afghanistan. Italy is likely to not help until conservative Prime Minister Berlusconi returns to power in April, as Parliament has been dissolved until then.
A reversal of France’s refusal to deploy combat units to the southern front-lines would ease tensions within NATO. A rift has emerged in the alliance between nations such as the United States, Canada and Britain, who have troops in the south, and those like France, Germany and Italy, whose units operate in the relative safety of north and west Afghanistan.
However, French officials cautioned that it was unlikely Paris would provide all the troops Canada is seeking and said a decision on whether to deploy was unlikely before April, when NATO leaders meet for a summit in Bucharest, Romania.
While NATO defense ministers resumed talks in Lithuania, Canadian diplomats said the delegation heading to Paris would lay out details of what Ottawa needs in Kandahar.
The lack of support from key European allies in southern Afghanistan has provoked stark warnings this week from the United States about the future of alliance unity and prompted an ultimatum from Canada.
Ottawa said it would withdraw its 2,500 troops from their key role in the 43,000-strong NATO force next year unless it got reinforcements. Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay said Ottawa wants an offer of help by the April summit in Bucharest.
French Defense Minister Herve Morin on Thursday said France would help Canada, but declined to give details. He suggested President Nicolas Sarkozy could announce a strengthening of the French role in Afghanistan with a redeployment of the 1,500 French troops that are mostly in Kabul area.
“My message to the Canadian public is ‘be a bit patient,’” Morin said when asked if France would help in the south. However, he added that a media report that Sarkozy was considering the deployment of 700 paratroopers to the south was premature.
“In the framework of this new policy in favor of Afghanistan, what we are studying are several options,” he told reporters. “But announcing figures like that is really going too fast.”
France, along with Germany, Italy, Spain and Turkey, has so far refused to deploy significant numbers of combat troops in southern Afghanistan, the heartland of the Taliban insurgency. Although none of the European holdouts has publicly announced a change in its position at the NATO meeting, diplomats were hopeful that France would answer the Canadian appeal.
If Sarkozy were to agree to deploy to the south, it would be a significant shift from the policy of his predecessor Jacques Chirac and underscore the new president’s stated aim of improving relations with the United States. Under Sarkozy, France is also considering a full return to NATO’s integrated military command, from which President Charles de Gaulle withdrew in the 1960s.
Canadian officials said Canada would likely have talks with other allies, although MacKay acknowledged that not all nations had the military capacity to maintain 1,000 troops in the tough Kandahar battlefields.
Many European governments are under public pressure not to send troops to the Afghan front-lines. Some think it better to focus on reconstruction in the more stable areas rather than pursuing the insurgents. Others say their militaries are stretched elsewhere.
Germany in particular has bristled at recent U.S. criticism, insisting its 3,300 troops in Afghanistan are doing important work supporting reconstruction in the relatively stable north.
“If we constantly rush back and forth between the different regions in Afghanistan, I think that also would be a difficult thing,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin Thursday. “This deployment is not easy and that everyone who is active in this operation is doing his best to build up Afghanistan’s overall structure.”
A senior German official on Friday dismissing the idea that his and other European countries are “quitters.”
“We already have more than 20 dead to mourn from this work, so it isn’t so very safe,” Gernot Erler, a deputy foreign minister, said on the Inforadio channel. “It simply is not true that some are doing the hard work and the others are quitters, to put it drastically.”
Despite the difficulties raising forces, NATO insisted they were gaining ground in the battle against the Taliban and efforts to promote reconstruction in Afghanistan, rejecting the findings of a series of recent high-profile reports.
“Despite some gloomy headlines, there is clear progress,” alliance Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said, pointing to military successes against the Taliban and improvements to the country’s economy, schools and health care.
With Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak joining the NATO meeting Friday, de Hoop Scheffer stressed the need for the authorities in Kabul to fight corruption, build up a viable police force and take on opium producers.
“Governance must visibly improve, so the Afghan people have trust in their leaders,” de Hoop Scheffer said.
He appealed to the United Nations and the European Union—which also attended the meeting—to match NATO’s military effort with increased backing for reconstruction.
(AP)
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
If you can't handle using your real email address, don't bother posting a comment.
I keep saying it: Gotta love the Sarkmeister. Time to start buying French Wine again.
February 8th, 2008 at 7:08 amFrance putting Germany to shame, weird.
February 8th, 2008 at 7:37 amI hope that they can really help. I wish all of them luck
February 8th, 2008 at 7:49 amFrench military jokes aside, the french have a foriegn legion for a reason, and they are some tough soldiers, glad to see the Sarkman doing something.
The rest of europe doesn’t realize apathy aids the enemy.
February 8th, 2008 at 7:55 am“We already have more than 20 dead to mourn from this work, so it isn’t so very safe,” Gernot Erler, a deputy foreign minister, said on the Inforadio channel. “It simply is not true that some are doing the hard work and the others are quitters, to put it drastically.”
Wow, I think the death rate in some areas in Los Angeles are higher than that. Lets see……we moved into Afghanistan October 2001 you have lost 23 troops so that adds up to just over 3 fatalities a year. Smokes, you guys are really putting in the hard work!
As of Feb. 8th we’ve lost 414 troops and you lost 23!?!? Thanks Angela and Gernot for helping us make the point that you obviously are not putting in the hard work.
These countries that sit on their hands while we stand up, and kick ass to clean up the world’s messes.
February 8th, 2008 at 8:14 amfirebadder,
paratroopers (might be there some of our arab , negro, viet immigrants though) ain’t legionnaires, and in the legion corps there is an acceptable and autorised number of foreigners,(that become automatically french at their first fire baptem) otherwise that wouldn’t be a french legion
February 8th, 2008 at 8:53 amCheer up Germany its ok that you tried to conquer the world twice its only natural, we forgive you, now get off you ass and stop letting the French and Italians make you look bad.
Sarkozy woot!!!
February 8th, 2008 at 12:02 pmI do love Sarko.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:26 pmDon’t expect any miracles from our politicians this year. Hillary and Obama can go as General Patton compared with Germany’s current government…
February 8th, 2008 at 12:36 pmWhat the fuck? The French marching to the sound of the guns and the Germans running away? Guderian is spinning in his grave.
I’ve heard it said that France actually has a good army and officer corps. Their problem is that anyone with a shred of courage or competence never gets promoted past Colonel.
Germany’s problem is that all the hippies took over the government, where as here they just took over the media and universities. Germans take pacifism with their mother’s milk - sorry, formula.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:41 pmTheir problem is that anyone with a shred of courage or competence never gets promoted past Colonel.
except at war ; it was true in algeria war ;
but that were older times, there were not such an advanced technology ; making the war wasn’t a question of knowledge, but more of tactic and men management ;
now, the warriors that want to get grades, have to be high educated
February 8th, 2008 at 12:49 pmTime to get real, couldn’t agree more… it’s not our military that’s weak. It’s those hippies who don’t want any dead Afghan civilians or friendly fire shit. They’d lose their job over it, if it came from a German barrel
Whilst collateral damage is something the US administration has no problem selling to its public, it would be completely impossible to do the same here. I think that’s what they are most paranoid about.
50 million casualties in WWII came to haunt this society and it’s the German babyboomer generation (”Wirtschaftswunder”) now, that’s still influenced by it. I am young. My generation makes no difference between US soldiers our age, or ourselves. We don’t have that chip on our shoulder anymore.
However, we DO enjoy the freedom that some liberal politics brings us. I think anyone would… let me give you an example:
Germany is SOO liberal, they DON’T even impose a speedlimit on their motorists when you take the autobahn (interstates), lol… everyone is free to get into a Porsche, Mercedes, Audi or BMW and burn some rubber - 160 miles p/hr no problem! I mean, that’s when liberalism is fun, believe me
February 8th, 2008 at 1:06 pm