Sarkozy, alongside the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, who was in Paris for a previously planned visit, said France had told the United States of its plan and will present it at a Feb. 2-3 meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. He said he would call President Obama about it today.
A sense of mission fatigue has been growing among some European contributors to the 10-year allied intervention in Afghanistan. The new idea floated by Sarkozy would accelerate a gradual drawdown of NATO troops that Obama has planned to see through the end of 2014.
France’s announcement could step up pressure in other European governments like Britain, Italy, and Germany, which also have important roles in Afghanistan. But the leaders of those European nations don’t face elections anytime soon. Sarkozy does.
Sarkozy said France will withdraw combat troops by the end of 2013, a reversal from his repeated commitment in recent months to stick with other allies on a US-led schedule.
At the same time, he said France will restart its training missions of Afghan troops today. After the shootings of the French troops on Jan. 20, he immediately suspended the training and joint French military patrols with Afghan forces.
US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the timetable announced by France was worked through by both the Afghans and NATO as part of efforts to transfer security authority to Afghanistan. “We, obviously, want to continue to work together to ensure that this is implemented in a way that is consistent with the efforts of all of NATO to give increasing authority to the Afghans, and that it is smooth,’’ she said.
Nuland said the United States was pleased the move was not “precipitous.’’
“So you know, this was a national decision of France,’’ she said. “It was done in a managed way. We will all work with it. As the president has said, with regard to our own presence, we are working on 2014.’’
“The alliance as a whole is working on 2014. But we are also going to work within this French decision,’’ she added.
