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France/Afghanistan
Families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan to sue
Article published on the 2009-10-29 Latest update 2009-10-29 14:21 TU
French soldiers on patrol in Afghanistan, shortly after 10 were killed east of Kabul in August 2008
(Photo: Sandra Calligaro)
The families of two French soldiers who died in a Taliban ambush east of Kabul in August 2008 are to sue unnamed officials for putting their lives in danger.
Their lawyer, Gilbert Collard told Le Parisien newspaper: “We suspect the existence of a series of failures in the chain of command”. Collard is representing the parents of Julien Le Pahun and the ex-wife of Rodolphe Penon.
The complaint does not name the people involved, as is allowed under French law. It will therefore be up to investigating magistrates to decide whether anyone should face trial.
French troops had only been in charge of the area for a month when 10 soldiers were killed in what was one of the biggest single losses of life for NATO forces in Afghanistan.
According to a report which appeared in The Times earlier this month, the French force was ambushed by 170 heavily-armed insurgents and were at the time relatively lightly-armed and had insufficient air cover.
The article also claimed that Italian troops, who had been in charge of the area before the French, had secretly been paying the Taliban not to attack. The Times said this led to the French making a “catastrophically incorrect threat assessment” of the area.
The Italian government has denied paying bribes to the Taliban and the French Defence Minister Herve Morin has also rejected the report, saying there was “no reason to doubt the word of the Italian government.”
