Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, paid a quick visit to Afghanistan yesterday to reassure French troops following the deaths of 10 soldiers in a Taliban ambush close to the capital, Kabul, earlier this week.
The losses were the worst suffered by the French army in 25 years and the most serious suffered in a single incident by international forces in Afghanistan since 2002. The presidential visit, aimed at reassuring the 2,600 French soldiers deployed in the country as well as shaky domestic public opinion and Nato allies, was carried out at Sarkozy”s usual rapid pace.
The French premier stood for some time before the coffins of the dead men in a military chapel in Kabul and visited some of the 21 soldiers wounded in the 36-hour running battle, which took place about 30 miles east of the city on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. Eleven of the most seriously injured men were flown to France yesterday.
The fight is believed to have started after French troops on a reconnaissance patrol were ambushed by a force of around 100 militants as they approached a ridge line in a mountainous, rural district north of the town of Sorobi.
A fierce battle developed as air strikes and reinforcements from the Afghan National Army failed to force back the insurgents. According to the French defence minister, Hervé Morin, who accompanied Sarkozy to Afghanistan, around 30 Taliban militants were killed and 30 wounded in the clash. No independent confirmation was available.
