France/Afghanistan

France to send more military instructors to Afghanistan

Article published on the 2010-02-06 Latest update 2010-02-06 13:20 TU

French Defence Minister Hervé Morin (R) sporting an Afghan head dress speaks to paratroopers on a visit to Afghanistan in 2008
(Photo: AFP)

France is to send about 80 more military instructors to Afghanistan, Defence Minister Hervé Morin announced on Friday. That will bring the number of French troops in the country to 3,850.

Morin's announcement comes in the wake of the London conference on Afghanistan, where Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner told RFI that Paris might send instructors but would send no more combat troops.

The extra troops are far fewer than the US would like, even coming after Italy's promise of 1,000 extra troops and Germany and Britain's pledges to send 500 more each.

The instructors will be the seventh such group sent by France. They will train a 400-strong batallion of the Afghan National Army east of Kabul.

Since the beginning of the year three French soldiers working in training teams have been killed. Taliban fighters target foreign troops, regardless of whether they are playing a combat role or not.

An Afghan police patrol on Friday evening killed seven civilians who were gathering firewood at dusk in Kandahar province. They say they believed the victims, two of whom were under 18, were insurgents.

The six-member patrol have been detained and are being questioned to determine whether the killing was intentional.