Afghan President Hamid Karzai met French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Saturday, days after France promised to send an extra 700 soldiers to help battle the Taliban, Reuters reported. Kouchner arrived from Tajikistan where he said on Friday that French troops operating in Afghanistan would number about 3,000. Also in Kabul for talks with Karzai on Saturday was Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier of Canada, whose troops have been battling a resurgent Taliban in the Afghan south. NATO commands a 47,000-strong force in Afghanistan, about 19,000 of its troops from the United States and 7,750 from Britain. The United States leads a separate coalition force. Kouchner and Bernier were due to hold a news conference with their Afghan counterpart later on Saturday.
