French, Australian premiers visit Afghanistan

BREAKING NEWS - Sunday December 23, 2007

French, Australian premiers visit Afghanistan

Kabul (dpa) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy held talks with his Afghan counterpart in Kabul Saturday, as Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was expected to arrive for similar talks, a spokesman said.

Sarkozy on his first visit to Afghanistan since taking office in May met Saturday morning with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and assured him of France's support.

"Nicolas Sarkozy assured President Karzai of his government's long-term political and military support for the people of Afghanistan," a statement released by the presidential palace said.

The statement said both leaders agreed that drug cultivation and a lack of security were serious challenges for Afghanistan and called for greater efforts in the fight against terrorism and narcotics.

According to the statement, Sarkozy, who is the first French president to visit Afghanistan, was expected to meet French troops stationed in Kabul, accompanied by French Defence Minister Herve Morin, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and State Secretary for Human Rights Rama Yade.

Meanwhile, Rudd, who took office earlier this month, was expected to meet Karzai and hold a press conference later Saturday, presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzada told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

He was also scheduled to meet his country's troops - stationed in the southern region - and then fly to Kabul.

Australia is the biggest non-NATO troop contributor with around 1,000 soldiers, mostly stationed in the southern province of Uruzgan.

There are also about 1,300 French soldiers deployed in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Most of the French soldiers are stationed around Kabul, while some of them are in the southern province of Kandahar, where six French Mirage jets are based.

In November, Sarkozy pledged a stronger French commitment to the fight against the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban movement that was ousted after the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

The Taliban government had given refuge to the planners of the attack, the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Taliban supporters still remain as a guerrilla force in the country.

France and Germany are under pressure from NATO and the US to deploy their troops further into the volatile southern regions, where Taliban insurgents are most entrenched.

13:39 Dec 22, 2007

Bangkok Post