France plans troops cut in Afghanistan

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France plans troops cut in Afghanistan

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France moved to endorse the US announcement of accelerated US troop withdrawals from Afghanistan.

24 June,2011 09:34 am

Following the move of US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has also announced the withdrawal of 4,000 French troops from Afghanistan.France said it would begin a pullback phased of the 4,000 soldiers next month it has contributed to the allied effort. But the government set no timetable or numbers for the withdrawals, saying they would follow a schedule similar to the one set by Obama.France made its announcement barely 12 hours after Obama’s televised address from the White House in which he set higher-than-expected numbers for the American withdrawal. The new timetable appeared to win only lukewarm backing from the Pentagon and no public endorsement from the US commander in Afghanistan, Gen David Petraeus.Obama said 10,000 American combat troops would be withdrawn this year, with another 20,000 leaving by the end of September 2012 — a total that would effectively reverse the troop increase that the president ordered in December 2009.Now the other NATO countries thinking about complete troops withdrawal by 2014.