Sarkozy to send French troops to help Canada in Afghanistan

Times:

President Sarkozy rode to the rescue of beleaguered Nato forces in southern Afghanistan yesterday when he offered to deploy French troops alongside Canadians in Kandahar.

The French leader has been the most forthcoming of Nato leaders in answering the urgent call to help the troops fighting Taleban insurgents.

After Canada’s repeated warnings that it would pull its 2,500 troops out of Kandahar if no other alliance member came to support them, France has been the only country to hint at sending reinforcements.

French and Canadian officials are discussing the logistics of operating a combined force. A delegation was sent to Paris from Ottawa yesterday.

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It is nice to see France acting like an ally instead of an adversary. Sarkozy has been a significant improvement over previous French leaders. He is not only intelligent but bold. Hopefully he can also cure their socialism problem too. This is really a great contribution and it also puts the German failure to help in stark contrast. It is also good to see Canada getting the help they needed. The Canadian troops have done good work in Afghanistan. It is too bad there are not more of them involved. That they can only supply 2,500 troops for a country that size says something about their lack of military investment over the years.