France said on Tuesday it would wait until the visit of Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday to decide whether to speed up the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan. President Nicolas Sarkozy last week suspended all French operations on the ground and sent his defence minister to Afghanistan after four French soldiers were killed by an Afghan soldier. "President Karzai will be here on Friday and we'll talk to him about it and then we will decide whether we need to accelerate (the withdrawal) or not," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told Canal+ television. "The President (Sarkozy) and Prime Minister will decide during the week." Defence Minister Gerard Longuet will submit his report following his return from Kabul to Sarkozy later on Tuesday, according to a report of Reuters. Meanwhile, it is reported that U.S. State Department Under Secretary Wendy R. Sherman arrives in Paris on Tuesday and Afghanistan is expected to be on the agenda for her talks with French officials.
