KABUL, Afghanistan — French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed Wednesday that French troops would stick it out in Afghanistan, despite an exceptionally deadly attack and frustration at home about the war.
“We have to be here,” he said while visiting Kabul, adding that he had no regrets about sending 700 reinforcements to the French contingent.
Sarkozy spoke to French troops from units that lost some of the 10 soldiers killed in a fierce Taliban ambush and firefight in mountains about 30 miles east of Kabul on Monday. It was the deadliest attack on international troops in Afghanistan since 2005.
Sarkozy spread his message to listeners in Europe whose countries also have troops coping with Afghanistan’s mounting violence. “The work you are doing here is vital. I say that . . . to your comrades in Europe because there are soldiers from the whole of Europe here,” he said. “The best way of remaining faithful to your comrades is to continue the work, to lift your heads, to be professional.
“A part of the world’s freedom is at stake here. This is where the fight against terrorism is being waged,” he said.
Sarkozy visited a military chapel in Kabul where the French soldiers’ bodies lay before they were flown home.
Meanwhile, the leader of the opposition Socialists raised questions about Paris’ troop presence in Afghanistan, and French survivors of the battle told Le Monde newspaper Wednesday that the soldiers were hit by friendly fire from NATO aircraft trying to free them and that the troops waited four hours for reinforcements.
