 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| . |  |
. |
No more French combat troops for Afghanistan: Sarkozy
Paris (AFP) Jan 25, 2010 French President Nicolas Sarkozy said France will send no more combat troops to Afghanistan, in an interview on Monday three days before an international conference on stabilising the country. "I said a year and a half ago... that there would no more combat troops (sent by France to Afghanistan), and I am trying to scrupulously keep my commitments and my word," he said in a rare televised interview. France may still send extra non-combat military personnel to train the Afghan security forces, Sarkozy added. "If there is a need for more people to train, supervise the police, carry out civil engineering and help the population... why not?" he said. France has 3,300 soldiers helping fight the Islamist Taliban movement on the ground in Afghanistan. They are among 113,000 foreign troops under US and NATO command there, to which about 40,000 are due to be added this year. Sarkozy also cited concerns for the threat posed by the unrest in Afghanistan to stability in its nuclear-armed neighbour Pakistan. "France will stay in Afghanistan because it is question of our own security," Sarkozy said. "If the Taliban win in Afghanistan, then Pakistan will fall." Britain is to host the meeting on Thursday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and foreign ministers. It is expected to focus on how NATO-led troops can hand over to Afghan forces and efforts to persuade Taliban militants to stop fighting.
Afghan Taliban claims it targeted Bulgarian defence minister In a statement released by the US-based monitoring group SITE Intelligence and other Islamist forums, the militant movement said Mladenov had been "the main target of its rocket strike on Kandahar Airport on January 24". It said that "six rockets fell inside the airport and one fell 200 metres (yards) from the minister's location", SITE added. Four Bulgarian troops were wounded in the attack Sunday on their base in the southern city's airport during a visit by Mladenov who was unharmed, the defence ministry in Sofia said. Upon his return from Afghanistan late Monday, Mladenov, however, denied the information that he had been the target. "I find this claim absurd because the information published on the (Afghan Taliban) website does not correspond with the truth. There were not six rockets fired at the base but just one," Mladenov told the state BNT television in an interview. He added that the 117-millimeter rocket was unguided, which meant that it was fired at the base but struck at random. "This information should not be taken seriously," Mladenov added, explaining that "risks exist and cannot be ruled out at any time". Asked whether "more discretion" should have prevailed during his five-day visit, Mladenov said that "all necessary measures for maximum security were taken". The minister arrived on an unannounced visit to Kabul on Wednesday. But news of his talks in the Afghanistan capital and a planned visit to the Bulgarian troops at Kandahar air field spread through a number of correspondents of local media travelling with him. Bulgaria has around 500 troops in the NATO-led ISAF military force in Afghanistan to help the government fight an insurgency led by Taliban Islamists. The Bulgarians are currently stationed at Kandahar air field and around the airport in Kabul but Bulgaria is seeking to bring them together at a single location in order to cut costs and ease logistics.
Related Links News From Across The Stans
Soviet war veterans say US must shift strategies in AfghanistanMoscow (AFP) Jan 25, 2010 The United States is repeating the mistakes that the Soviet Union made in Afghanistan, Russian veterans say, convinced the USSR's disastrous near decade-long war there harbours deep lessons for Western forces. "It is now (nearly) nine years since the coalition invaded Afghanistan and nothing has changed," said retired Lieutenant General Ruslan Aushev, 55, who served five years in Afghanistan ... read more |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2009 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook