French President Francois Hollande stood by his campaign pledge to withdraw French combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year, in a meeting Friday with US President Barack Obama, dpa reported. Despite the earlier pullout, Paris would continue to "respect its commitments by supporting Afghanistan in a different way," Hollande said. Obama welcomed the newly inaugurated French head of state to the White House Friday for the first meeting between the two leaders, with the European economic crisis and Afghanistan at the top of their agenda. Obama and Hollande met ahead of the broader Group of Eight (G8) summit beginning later Friday at the US presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, where Europe's economic woes are sure to dominate discussions among the world's largest advanced economies.
