French willing to help in Afghanistan, but waiting for a non-American trigger

The French are holding off on announcing any reinforcement of Afghanistan until after next week's conferences.

France is considering boosting its presence in Afghanistan, possibly to train local security forces, in response to a request from U.S. President Barack Obama, the newspaper Le Monde said on Tuesday.

A senior French diplomat with NATO in Brussels later said France was still working out its precise contribution but could help with paramilitary police or supplies.

Obama plans to send about 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan over six months, and Pentagon officials hope other NATO members will supplement the surge with up to 10,000 more troops.

'We are not saying no to Obama,' Le Monde quoted a source close to French President Nicolas Sarkozy as saying.

It said Obama would ask France for 1,500 more soldiers, although the senior diplomat later dismissed that figure as unrealistic.

The diplomat said France was still looking at its options in view of a planned international conference on Afghanistan to be held in London on Jan. 28.

'There are many ways of helping: gendarmes, equipment, civilian work,' the diplomat said.

What's really going on here? The French are probably more than willing to participate, but have to find some other trigger for their announcement than President Obama's speech so they don't look like they're just jumping in response to the US. The Gauls would be galled if such a thing were to come to pass.



By: Brant