French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd arrived in Kabul on Saturday and reiterated their governments' long-term commitment to war-ravaged Afghanistan, according to dpa. While Sarkozy held talks with his Afghan counterpart in Kabul, Rudd, who took office earlier this month, flew to southern province of Uruzgan and met with Australian troops in the province. It was not immediately clear whether the two western leaders met in Afghanistan. "We in Australia are confirming our continuing commitment to Afghanistan," Rudd told a joint press conference in Kabul, after meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. "Australia is here in Afghanistan for a long haul," Rudd said, adding, "We have troop commitments here and I wanted to take an early opportunity to visit our troops and to confirm to government of Afghanistan that our commitment remains." On Friday Rudd was in Iraq, where he stressed that his government would withdraw its 550 troops from Iraq by June next year. Australia is the biggest non-NATO troop contributor with around 1,000 soldiers, mostly stationed in the southern province of Uruzgan, where they participate in a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) led by Dutch troops. Speaking at the same press conference, Karzai thanked the people of Australia for their military and financial support with his government. "Australia has been a good friend of Afghanistan in fight against terrorism, and has helped our country in reconstruction," Karzai said, adding, "Australian soldiers by sacrificing their lives are defending from security of this country." Meanwhile, hours before Rudd's visit, Sarkozy on his first visit to Afghanistan since taking office in May met Saturday morning with Karzai and assured him of France's support. "Nicolas Sarkozy assured President Karzai of his government's long-term political and military support for the people of Afghanistan," a statement released by the presidential palace said. The statement said both leaders agreed that drug cultivation and a lack of security were serious challenges for Afghanistan and called for greater efforts in the fight against terrorism and narcotics. According to the statement, Sarkozy, who is the first French president to visit Afghanistan, was expected to meet French troops stationed in Kabul, accompanied by French Defence Minister Herve Morin, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and State Secretary for Human Rights Rama Yade. There are also about 1,300 French soldiers deployed in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Most of the French soldiers are stationed around Kabul, while some of them are in the southern province of Kandahar, where six French Mirage jets are based. In November, Sarkozy pledged a stronger French commitment to the fight against the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban movement that was ousted after the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. The Taliban government had given refuge to the planners of the attack, the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Taliban supporters still remain as a guerrilla force in the country. France and Germany are under pressure from NATO and the US to deploy their troops further into the volatile southern regions, where Taliban insurgents are most entrenched. Afghanistan witnessed the bloodiest year in 2007 since the fall of the Taliban regime. More than 6,200 people - mostly insurgents - have been killed so far in the country.
