French Defense Minister Herve Morin on Thursday said France would help Canada, but declined to give details. He suggested President Nicolas Sarkozy could announce a strengthening of the French role in Afghanistan with a redeployment of the 1,500 French troops that are mostly in Kabul area.
"My message to the Canadian public is 'be a bit patient,'" Morin said when asked if France would help in the south. However, he added that a media report that Sarkozy was considering the deployment of 700 paratroopers to the south was premature.
"In the framework of this new policy in favor of Afghanistan, what we are studying are several options," he told reporters. "But announcing figures like that is really going too fast."
Meanwhile, Norwegian Defense Minister Anne-Grete Strom-Erichsen confirmed Friday his country will add to its 500 soldiers in Afghanistan in March with the deployment of special forces and helicopters, a total of 200 extra troops.
France, along with Germany, Italy, Spain and Turkey, has so far refused to deploy significant numbers of combat troops in southern Afghanistan, the heartland of the Taliban insurgency.
Although none of the European holdouts has publicly announced a change in its position at the NATO meeting, diplomats were hopeful that France would answer the Canadian appeal.
When France steps up as a member of the Coalition of the Willing, can we stop all the talk of how we have alienated our traditional allies?
The French army will do well, have no doubt. All the French troops needed were politicians willing to fight.
