France suspends all Afghanistan training operations over troop killings

[khushal]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...ing-operations

France is suspending military training operations in Afghanistan and considering whether to withdraw its entire force early after four French soldiers were killed by an Afghan soldier in the Taghab valley of eastern Kapisa province.
The shootings on Friday were the latest of several in which western soldiers have been killed by members of the Afghan security forces, undermining trust in the runup to the withdrawal of foreign combat troops in 2014.
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, announced that France would temporarily stop all its training operations and co-operation with Afghan troops. He immediately dispatched the French defence minister, Gerard Longuet, to Afghanistan to establish whether "conditions were safe" for French soldiers. He said if safe conditions were not clearly established France would consider an early withdrawal of all its troops from Afghanistan.
"If the conditions of security are not clearly restored, then the question of an early withdrawal of the French army would arise," Sarkozy said.
"The French army is in Afghanistan at the service of the Afghans against terrorism and against the Taliban. The French army is not in Afghanistan so that Afghan soldiers can shoot at them," he added.
The French foreign minister Alain Juppé later said that while four French soldiers were killed, 15 more were wounded, eight of them seriously. He said "our soldiers are in Afghanistan to help the afghan people and the Afghan army in their fight for freedom and democracy. It is incomprehensible and unacceptable that soldiers in the Afghan army murder French soldiers."
He brushed aside the question that the issue of troops in Afghanistan might be being used for electoral purposes, three months before Sarkozy stands for re-election, saying the soldiers' deaths were "a tragedy".
He said France now wanted "credible assurance" from the afghan government that it had stepped up security in its recruitment process to the Afghan army and that French troops were safe. If not, France would consider pulling troops out early.A total of 82 French soldiers have died in Afghanistan since the start of the conflict in 2001. There are currently 4,000 French troops in the country and a large part of their role is training the Afghan army.

[Manzareh]

"The French army is in Afghanistan at the service of the Afghans against terrorism and against the Taliban"

more like at the service of America. Anglo Saxons have been doing this shiit for hundreds of years they all stick together even in evil.

[Ghundal]

EUROPE NEWSJANUARY 20, 2012, 12:17 P.M. ET
France Threatens Afghan Withdrawal
France Threatens Afghan Withdrawal - WSJ.com

By WILLIAM HOROBINand MARIA ABI-HABIB
PARIS—France suspended its training and combat support operations in Afghanistan on Friday and threatened to pull all French troops from the country after four of its service members were killed by an Afghan soldier.

In a separate incident, six U.S. troops were killed in southern Afghanistan, one of the bloodiest days for international forces in months. The French service members were killed in Kapisa province in the east of the country, Afghan officials confirmed, keeping up last year's trend of coalition deaths at the hands of their Afghan allies. France said the troops were unarmed.

Enlarge Image

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
French soldiers walk with their kit bags at Kabul International Airport on Oct. 19, 2011.

"The French army isn't in Afghanistan to be shot at by Afghan soldiers," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a speech to diplomats in Paris.

Mr. Sarkozy said he is immediately dispatching defense minister Gérard Longuet and the head of the French army to Afghanistan to conduct a review of security. "Between now and then, all operations, of training and combat support, are suspended," he said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed his condolences in a statement, saying he was "deeply saddened" by the deaths.

"France has been generous to provide extensive assistance to Afghanistan over the past ten years. Throughout history, the two countries have enjoyed a sincere relationship, which Afghan people would always cherish," Mr. Karzai said.

In line with the U.S., France has already flagged a gradual withdrawal of its nearly 4,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan and has committed to transfer all its security responsibilities in the country to Afghan authorities by 2014. French authorities have said the withdrawal would be proportional in numbers to the U.S. withdrawal.

"If the security conditions and the recruitment conditions of Afghan soldiers are not clearly defined and secure, France will draw immediate conclusions," Mr. Sarkozy said Friday, adding that would raise the question of an early withdrawal of French troops from the country.

The shootings—which were described by France's defense minister as assassinations—highlight a growing problem confronting troops in Afghanistan: Afghan soldiers turning foe. Last year at least two dozen coalition forces were killed at the hands of Afghans dressed in police and army uniforms, in carefully plotted murders and during heated arguments.

Not all coalition deaths at the hands of uniformed Afghan forces have been caused by enlisted servicemen but insurgents who obtained army and police uniforms. In the most devastating incident, however, an Afghan air force pilot who had served for 20 years turned on his American allies, killing eight troops and a civilian contractor in April.

The coalition is scrambling to prepare Afghan forces for a gradual handover of security to be completed in 2014, when most U.S.-led forces are slated to leave. But doubts linger, especially among European contributing nations, that the Afghan army and police are ready to secure their own country.

A classified report obtained by The Wall Street Journal last June said that the killings of American troops at the hands of Afghan forces represented a "rapidly growing systemic threat" that could undermine the war effort.

A coalition spokesman, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings challenged the report's findings, saying that senior coalition officials found it to be too general and "unprofessional" and ultimately didn't endorse it.

U.S. forces make up about 90,000 of the some 130,000 international troops in Afghanistan with European nations contributing much of the rest.

The Taliban denied responsibility for the deaths, although they have taken credit in the past for their fighters infiltrating the Afghan army and police and turning on coalition troops.

In a statement, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen downplayed the attack as an "isolated" incident.

"The reality is that every day, 130,000…troops from 50 nations fight and train with over 300,000 Afghan soldiers," he said. "That takes a lot of trust among a lot of soldiers."

[Ghundal]

So France is going to withdraw earlier then expected.

[Afghanistan2010]

Alhamdulillah,the attacker (may Allah forgive him and give him paradise) was successful in turning day to night for them.

All praise due to Allah.

[Shamaar]

"The French army is in Afghanistan at the service of the Afghans against terrorism and against the Taliban"

more like at the service of America. Anglo Saxons have been doing this shiit for hundreds of years they all stick together even in evil.

Bro, the French are not Anglo-Saxons. Anglo-Saxons are the English and their descendants.

[KhyberKhan]

The French are smart enough to learn from the past and see a bad situation and cut their losses.

In other words they are not like the American retards that spend decades losing and then tucking tail and running while talking about how tough they are whilst begging the taliban to negotiate with them for an exit plan.

[Manzareh]

Bro, the French are not Anglo-Saxons. Anglo-Saxons are the English and their descendants.

I meant white people.

[JattApache]

Alhamdulillah,the attacker (may Allah forgive him and give him paradise) was successful in turning day to night for them.

All praise due to Allah.

You live in France, you pay Taxes for france ( so you pay the war in afghanistan ), and you say this ? O-m-g

[Afghanistan2010]

You live in France, you pay Taxes for france ( so you pay the war in afghanistan ), and you say this ? O-m-g

I pay it not intentionally,i pay what everyone else pay...sweety and i doubt that they waste alot money on the french troops in Afghanistan.