In a surprise five-hour trip, Sarkozy met Afghan President Hamid Karzai, had a working lunch with General David Petraeus, the top US commander in the country, and visited French troops in the region of Surobi, east of Kabul.
Sarkozy, who followed US President Barack Obama’s June announcement of faster troop withdrawal, said France’s remaining soldiers would be based in Kapisa province and that all combat units would be brought home by the end of 2014. After that, some soldiers would remain in Afghanistan to train Afghan forces.
“You have to know how to end a war,” Sarkozy said.
Sarkozy’s third trip to Afghanistan since he came to power in 2007 coincided with the killing of Karzai’s influential brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, who was apparently shot by one of his bodyguards.
France has 4,000 troops in Afghanistan and has seen 64 of its soldiers killed since it joined the US – and NATO-led Afghanistan operation in 2001. The latest casualty was killed on Monday by an accidental shot from his own camp in Kapisa.
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