Pakistan's army chief of staff has played down the prospects of any "foolish" US ground offensive in the militant-infested district of North Waziristan, lawmakers said Wednesday.

Any such attack by US forces from across the Afghan border would prove 10 times harder than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, General Ashfaq Kayani was quoted as saying in a briefing Tuesday with the Pakistani lawmakers.

Kayani's remarks reportedly came at the briefing at army headquarters on what the military called "ongoing military operations" and "matters related to the defence budget".

Washington last month escalated pressure on Pakistan to crack down on the Al-Qaeda-allied Haqqani network. Then military chief Admiral Mike Mullen accused Pakistani intelligence of involvement in a US embassy siege in Kabul.

US commanders want Pakistan to open a second front in North Waziristan against the Haqqanis and other militants accused of using Pakistani territory to launch attacks on American soldiers across the border in Afghanistan.

Pakistan has refused and the country has been rife with conspiracy theories that the United States could instead launch a unilateral ground incursion in North Waziristan, although there has been no evidence to support such a theory.

Four lawmakers who attended the briefing with Kayani gave AFP different accounts of what transpired and the military refused to comment.

One lawmaker said, on condition of anonymity, that Kayani was asked about media reports of US troops massing in Afghanistan along the border with North Waziristan.

"General Kayani said 'we are assessing what their intentions are. So far it does not appear to be a buildup against Pakistan. But if they come across the border they will think 10 times before doing so," he told AFP.

Another lawmaker, also on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Kayani was asked whether US troops could launch an attack on Pakistan before withdrawing from Afghanistan.

"General Kayani said 'the Americans are not so foolish, they have their experience in Iraq and Afghanistan and no comparison can be made'," the lawmaker quoted the general as saying.

"They can do it, but if they engage in any such an adventure they will find it 10 times more costly and difficult. It is not in their interest to launch such an attack," he added.

The United States has limited its military involvement in Pakistan to a covert CIA drone war focused on Waziristan. In May, its special forces raided a Pakistani garrison town to kill Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

First 200 French soldiers to leave Afghanistan
Kabul (AFP) Oct 19, 2011 - The first 200 French soldiers were due to leave Afghanistan on Wednesday, kickstarting troop withdrawals announced three months ago by Paris as part of NATO plans to wind down its combat mission by 2014.

A further 200 French soldiers are due to return home before Christmas, with another 600 leaving in 2012, ahead of a full drawdown of NATO's combat mission scheduled in 2014.

France has some 4,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan, mostly in the district of Surobi and in the neighbouring province of Kapisa, part of the NATO-led force of 130,000 foreign troops, two-thirds of whom are Americans.

The departures are in line with a transition process that began in seven areas in July, meant to hand responsibility for security across the country to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.

The French contingent are working to integrate Surobi, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Kabul, into a second phase of the transition process.

The United States, Britain and Belgium have also announced partial withdrawals, with some US troops already heading home this summer as Western voters tire of more than a decade at war against a strong Taliban insurgency.

A total of 194 soldiers, including 172 legionnaires from the 2nd Company of the 2nd Foreign Airborne Regiment, based in Calvi on the island of Corsica southeast of France, were due to take off in the afternoon from Kabul.

The legionnaires were deployed at Torah base in Surobi.

The departure of the men "will not have an impact on operations at the (Torah) base and the pace of operations," Colonel Lionel Jeand'heurs, who commands the French contingent deployed in Surobi, told AFP recently.

"We won't leave overnight. We can leave without regret after the work we've done," he said.

A further 11 troops responsible for training the Afghan army will also leave on Wednesday.

The magnitude of the withdrawal announced in July surprised some military officials, who hoped to take advantage of the transfer of responsibility in relatively peaceful Surobi to move its workforce to the more troubled Kapisa.

The departing legionnaires began their current mission on July 6.

Two of them were killed during a battle with insurgents on August 7 in Kapisa -- one by "friendly fire" -- and another three were injured.

Summer 2011 was particularly deadly for French troops in Afghanistan: 17 French soldiers were killed between June 1 and September 7, bringing to 75 the number killed since 2001 as part of military operations in Afghanistan.