The French, Taliban, and Afghanistan

French support is always tenuous.

Why are we in Iraq? Some would question why.

Why are we in Afghanistan? That very few would question. The birthplace of the attacks on the US, and on Western Civilization - yes, of course, plans were drawn up everywhere and attacks occur everywhere - but the centerpiece of that problem is bin Laden, in Afghanistan. It is the extremists who protected him, who led the war for him - who we fight. We fight them in Afghanistan because we do not want them on our streets burning hundreds of cars each year, and hundreds of millions of dollars in property, we want them fought in Afghanistan to stop them from attacking us and our allies.

The French apparently don't know why they are in Afghanistan.






Very few French understand why their country is involved in a conflict more than 5,000km (3,100 miles) away.

During his presidential election campaign in 2007, Mr Sarkozy hinted he might even have withdrawn French forces.

But a year later, he sent an extra army battalion to Afghanistan's rugged and troubled east as part of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).

With the porous border of Pakistan just over the Hindu Kush, the elite brigade of "Chasseurs Alpins" or mountain infantry, is tasked with trying to stop insurgents coming into the valleys and blocking the supply routes to Kabul.

The insurgent attacks are frequent and brutal - sometimes the battles last for four hours.
A suggestion by the UK and US militaries that the French do not shoulder their fair share of the war's risk irritates Colonel Nicolas Le Nen, commander of the 27th Regiment de Chasseurs.

"I don't get the impression we're peacekeeping here," he tells me with a polite smile. "The contacts are very tough... we are definitely not on a peacekeeping mission.

"We are also in the east to show to our allies that France is also in the front line against the insurgents," he adds.

France only really woke up to the fact that it was engaged in a real war in Afghanistan when 10 of its soldiers were killed and 21 others injured in an ambush last August.

At that point, more than half of France's population said the troops should be brought home, according to nationwide opinion polls.









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