PARIS — France and Afghanistan agree that NATO should speed up by a year its timetable for handing all combat operations to Afghan forces in 2013, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday.
Sarkozy also announced a faster-track exit for France, the fourth-largest contributor of troops in Afghanistan — marking a break from previous plans to adhere to the U.S. goal of withdrawing combat forces by the end of 2014.
The proposal comes a week after four unarmed French troops were killed by an Afghan soldier described as a Taliban infiltrator.
Sarkozy — alongside Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who was in Paris for a previously planned visit — said France had told the U.S. of its plan, and will present it at a Feb. 2-3 meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. He said he would call President Barack Obama about it today.
In Washington, the White House offered no criticism of Sarkozy’s remarks. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the timetable announced by France was worked through by both the Afghans and NATO as part of efforts to transfer security authority to Afghanistan.
“We, obviously, want to continue to work together to ensure that this is implemented in a way that is consistent with the efforts of all of NATO to give increasing authority to the Afghans, and that it is smooth,” she said. The Associated Press
