Sarkozy's Afghan troop plan criticised in assembly debate

FRANCE: FRENCH DEPUTIES felt so aggrieved that president Nicolas Sarkozy announced the reinforcement of French troops in Afghanistan in Westminster last week that they demanded to hold their own debate in the national assembly yesterday, writes Lara Marlowe in Paris.

An opinion poll published by Sud-Ouest newspaper yesterday showed that 68 per cent of French people disapprove of the decision to step up French involvement in Afghanistan. Only 15 per cent approve.

It is unusual for Mr Sarkozy to take a decision so contrary to public opinion, so his determination to respond positively to Washington's appeal for more troops is widely interpreted as proof of his pro-US and pro-Nato convictions.

It had "little to do with Afghanistan and a lot to do with Mr Sarkozy's Atlantist obsession", said socialist group leader Jean-Marc Ayrault.

Yesterday's debate was on one level about the imbalance between the executive and legislative branches of government in France, which the Balladur commission on institutional reform sought to redress. A draft law due in June would allow the national assembly to vote on the troop deployment.

If the government is really serious about institutional reform, it should allow the assembly to vote now, said Mr Ayrault, before calling a no-confidence vote he had no hope of winning.

Le Figaro newspaper described the Afghan reinforcement as the beginning of France's return to Nato integrated command.

Positions on the Afghan deployment mirror positions on reintegrating Nato: with the exception of a few Gaullist traditionalists who fear Mr Sarkozy is betraying Gen de Gaulle's legacy, the right-wing UMP supports both, and the left opposes both.

It fell upon prime minister François Fillon to justify Mr Sarkozy's decision in the national assembly.

Mr Fillon stressed that France was participating in a UN-mandated peacekeeping mission - not a war - comparable to missions in the Ivory Coast, Lebanon and Kosovo.

"Fourteen of our soldiers have fallen in Afghanistan . . . fallen so there will be no more September 11s; fallen for a safer world," he said to loud applause from majority benches. "Afghanistan must never again become a hotbed of terrorism."

It was hard to believe that the country described by Mr Fillon, where "women enjoy similar rights to men", was the "broken, poor and tribal nation" described by the socialist Mr Ayrault.

There was so much shouting and booing from opposition benches when Mr Fillon vaunted progress in Afghanistan that the speaker of the assembly appealed for "dignity" on behalf of soldiers' families who might be watching.

France already has about 1,600 troops in Afghanistan.

Mr Fillon said France had imposed four conditions for sending more troops to Afghanistan.

These were: "the confirmation by the allies of their determination to maintain a long-term effort; the adoption of a shared political strategy; better co-ordination of civil and military efforts on the ground"; and the "Afghanisation" of the conflict, with Afghan security forces shouldering more responsibility.

By coincidence, these are almost identical to the terms of Nato's draft declaration, to be issued in Bucharest.

Last year, Mr Sarkozy promised to withdraw French troops from Afghanistan.

"What has happened in the past year for the head of state to change his mind?" Mr Ayrault asked. "No explanation has been given for this presidential volte-face.

"Alone, without informing the parliament and apparently against the advice of part of the armed forces staff headquarters, the head of state has transformed the French commitment in Afghanistan."

The right says the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are not connected, but Mr Ayrault said Mr Sarkozy's decision "asks France to carry in Afghanistan the Americans' burden from the war in Iraq, which France was the first to denounce as a dangerous error".

© 2008 The Irish Times

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