BRUSSELS: President Nicolas Sarkozy announced Friday that “several hundred” French troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan before the end of 2011. His office had said Thursday that France would carry out a progressive pullback “in a proportional manner and in a timeframe similar to the pullback of the American reinforcements.” The statement came after US President Barack Obama on Wednesday ordered all 33,000 US surge troops home from Afghanistan by next summer and declared the beginning of the end of the war, saying the withdrawal would begin this July. Four thousand French troops are currently stationed in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Premier Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Friday Spain's plans are for 10 percent of the Spanish soldiers to return home in the first half of 2012, 40 percent in 2013 and the rest in 2014. He told reporters in Brussels that the withdrawal will depend on how events in the war evolve, but for now this the plan. – Agence France
