It is up to the other big countries to act [in Afghanistan]. ... France has the capablities. It is not enough for them just to sit around near the airport.

Senior British defense official
September 20, 2006 (Mirror)

There is no question that we can take some of our forces away from Kabul to send them to the south of Afghanistan.

Michèle Alliot-Marie,
French Defense Minister and
former dimmest bulb in the dark Chirac marquee™
PARIS September 21, 2006 (Reuters)

The Europeans have relied on their American allies for too long. They have to shoulder their share of the burden by making a national defence effort commensurate with their ambitions for Nato and also for the EU.

Jack,
piously soaping the press
before sinking the NATO summit in Riga
November 28, 2006 (Guardian)

AFGHANISTAN COULD SOUND
DEATH KNELL FOR NATO, SAYS CARRINGTON

December 16, 2006 (Telegraph) - The former Conservative foreign secretary [Lord Carrington] said Nato's future had been plunged into doubt by the refusal of so many of its members to send troops into the most dangerous areas in the south. He said that it was "dangerous" that only Britain, America, Canada and the Netherlands had been willing to put their troops on the frontline against the Taliban.

... His concerns were shared by Lord Owen, the former Labour foreign secretary, who accused President Jacques Chirac of France, of undermining Nato. "Chirac's role in helping to destroy Nato, I think, is very considerable, in marked contrast to [the former French president Francois] Mitterrand."

"We can live with the different French view of Nato but I think the way that they are trying to always push European union instead of Nato is going to get the Americans to just say, 'well, to hell with it'."

There is always this question about the end of NATO. The real question is the end of France in NATO, but everyone seems too polite to put it this way. We are not, and, put this way, we cheer on the end of a NATO constantly tripped up by France. A France that complains much, does little, and still demands a seat at the grown-ups table. What every NATO member knows is that the survival of NATO does not depend on France. It depends on the United States.

Let France go. Let her invoke the ghost of Edouard Daladier to chase her multipolar huddles. She simply is not worth the headaches.

FRANCE BEATS A RETREAT
Will Pull Special Forces From Afghanistan

PARIS December 18, 2006 (Chicago Sun-Times) - France is to withdraw its 200-strong special forces from Afghanistan, all of its ground troops engaged in the U.S anti-terror operation there, authorities announced Sunday.

The decision to pull the elite troops, based in the southeastern city of Jalalabad, comes as the Taliban militia are gaining strength despite the strong engagement -- some 32,800 troops -- of NATO's International Security Assistance Force. France has balked at sending its 1,100-strong NATO contingent outside the relatively safe Afghan capital, Kabul.

Also see our previous post.

NATO FALLS SHORT IN AFGHANISTAN: NELSON

December 20, 2006 (The Age) - More NATO countries need to get their hands dirty in southern Afghanistan if the mission is to succeed, Australia and its allies say. ... Australian Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said too many NATO countries had fallen short in their military commitment to Afghanistan.

"It's extremely important that all countries, and the NATO countries especially, fully deploy their forces and that the caveats that are currently stopping some of the forces from being deployed to the south are significantly liberalised.

"I have, for example, asked the French minister specifically what is the definition of emergency and other conditions under which [French] forces could be deployed to the south. ... It's not fair that some countries have to do a lot more of the heavy lifting than do others."

No. No it is not. Not fair. Not fair at all.

PFFT (What is this?): Useless France 3½ | Good-bye France 5 | Rayonnement français 0

Bonjour ,

Pauvres abrutis !
Si la France fait ce retrait de 200 soldats , c'est pour les installer au Liban.
Robert Malley [ICG] nous explique , en FRANCAIS , que devant la déconfiture de Bush , Bush se prépare à livrer le Liban à la Syrie pour pouvoir négocier avec cette même Syrie.
Bush n'est pas seulement un con incapable , c'est un traitre à la cause des peuples libres ...

Baker , Baker , Baker ....