French president Nicolas Sarkozy said today he would follow the United States in starting a gradual troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in a move that could boost his popularity before a 2012 election.
Mr Sarkozy said troops sent for reinforcement would start returning in a time frame similar to the US force withdrawal.
President Barack Obama said yesterday the United States would pull out 33,000 troops by late 2012.
"Given the progress we have seen [in Afghanistan], France will begin a gradual withdrawal of reinforcement troops sent to Afghanistan, in a proportional manner and in a calendar comparable to the withdrawal of American reinforcements," Mr Sarkozy's office said after he spoke to Obama by telephone.
France has about 4,000 troops in Afghanistan, and has seen 62 soldiers killed. It is due to start redeploying and handing over areas it controls to the Afghan military in 2011.
The office statement did not say how many troops would be moved initially, and Defence Minister Gerard Longuet said details of the withdrawal would be kept quiet to avoid giving information to Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents.
"It will be significant for 2011 and, like the Americans, we will see this materialise in 2012," he told France Info radio.
French troops have been involved in the US- and Nato-led Afghanistan operation since 2001 and there is growing frustration in political circles with the long campaign.
Nearly 10 years after a Taliban government was toppled, foreign forces have been unable to deal a decisive blow to the resurgent Islamist militant group. The Afghan government remains weak and notoriously corrupt, and billions of dollars of foreign aid have yielded meagre results.
Reuters