French PM visits Afghanistan

KABUL (AFP) – French Prime Minister Francois Fillon flew into Kabul on a previously unannounced visit Thursday for talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and to meet French soldiers fighting the Taliban.

He was scheduled to meet Karzai at the heavily guarded presidential palace in the Afghan capital and hold talks with General Stanley McChrystal, the overall commander of the estimated 113,00 NATO and US forces in Afghanistan.

France is the fourth biggest contributor of foreign troops who are in Afghanistan to support the Western-backed government against the Taliban-led insurgency. It has 3,750 soldiers assigned to the NATO operation, 3,500 of them on Afghan soil.

France announced Friday that it would send around 80 military trainers to Afghanistan to help build up the national security forces, whose strengthening is at the heart of McChrystal's strategy to bring a swift end to the war.

But unlike NATO and EU allies, France said it would not send extra combat troops to Afghanistan after US President Barack Obama announced a surge of 30,000 American forces in a bid to defeat Al-Qaeda and beat back the Taliban.

Washington has been pushing Paris to boost its troop numbers in Afghanistan, where the eight-year Taliban insurgency is now at its deadliest.

The United States has urged NATO partners to find about 4,000 extra trainers to help build up the Afghan army and police force.

Fillon is visiting Afghanistan accompanied by French army chief of staff, Jean-Louis Georgelin.

The prime minister is expected to visit several sites where French soldiers are operating, with a particular regard to reconstruction efforts for Afghans, but officials did not reveal precise details for security reasons.

France has lost 40 soldiers in action since the 2001 US-led invasion brought down the Taliban regime.

One of Fillon's first duties on the visit was to attend a ceremony at Kabul airport for a 20-year-old French soldier killed in combat this week, his aides said.

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