LONDON ?France moved rapidly on Thursday to endorse President Obama?s announcement of accelerated American troop withdrawals, contributing to a growing sense of the tide turning in the Western military commitment to Afghanistan,
The �lys�e said that France would begin a phased pullback of the 4,000 soldiers it has contributed to the allied effort but set no timetable for the withdrawals, saying they would follow a schedule similar to the one set by Mr. Obama.
The announcement by President Nicolas Sarkozy had a faint but still significant echo in Britain. British Defense Ministry officials said that Prime Minister David Cameron?s government would consider whether to withdraw more than the 400 troops it plans to withdraw this year, from a total force of 10,000. They said the deadline for terminating British combat involvement, the end of 2014, would remain.
The French announcement came barely 12 hours after Mr. Obama?s televised address from the White House, setting higher-than-expected numbers for the American withdrawal. The new timetable appeared to win only lukewarm backing from the Pentagon and, significantly, no public endorsement from the American commander in Afghanistan, General David H. Petraeus.
Mr. Obama said 10,000 American troops would be withdrawn this year, with another 20,000 leaving by the end of September 2012 ? a total that would effectively reverse the troop surge the American leader ordered in December 2009.
In a statement, the �lys�e said that the decision on the French withdrawals followed a telephone discussion between Mr. Obama and Mr. Sarkozy on Wednesday, and signaled the importance that France attached to harmonizing its moves with Mr. Obama?s. The French pullback, the statement said, would take place ?in a proportional manner and in a timeframe similar to the pullback of the American reinforcements.?
Although the United States? force of about 100,000 troops is by far the largest among the 48 countries that comprise the international force in Afghanistan, Britain and France are the two other mainstays of the allied effort. Britain has more than twice as many troops committed to the allied effort as France, and has suffered casualties at a higher rate, proportional to the troop strengths of the two countries, than the Americans.
Canada, with 3,000 troops the next largest contributor, had previously announced its plans to withdraw all its troops this year, and several other European countries, including Germany and Italy, have already set deadlines for ending their military involvement. But with France now joining the nations heading for the exit from a war that has fast-waning levels of popular support almost everywhere in Europe, the momentum for withdrawal, already high, appeared to have been given a strong new impetus by President Obama?s announcement.
American diplomats and military commanders have long said that the political significance of the British and French commitments has outweighed their troop numbers. Both nations have seats on the United Nations Security Council and exert influence in areas of the world that have helped sustain wider international support for the war.
Britain?s reaction to the Obama announcement was more cautious than France?s, and suggested that British officials, as well as Britain?s top military commanders, have serious reservations about the American plan. Those concerns were voiced on Thursday by the retired military officer who was chief of Britain?s forces until last year, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup.
In a BBC interview, he spoke of his unease about the Obama announcement, saying that plans for allied troop levels in Afghanistan should be set according to military realities there, including the success of allied troops in suppressing the challenge of the Taliban and the progress Afghan forces make towards the agreed goal of having them assume responsibility for security across the country by 2014.
Withdrawals, he said, should not be set to meet ?political and electoral timescales? or because ?there are elections forthcoming in our countries.?
That appeared to be a reference to the American presidential election in 2012, as well as the upcoming French presidential election, also in 2012, and perhaps to the next British general election, which must be held before May 2015. Much of the American commentary on President Obama?s announcement focused on the fact that Mr. Obama chose September 2012 for completing the withdrawal of the 30,000 American troops, only weeks before Americans vote on whether to give him a second term.
In his statement on Thursday, Prime Minister Cameron endorsed the Obama withdrawals, but sent a signal to British commanders that British withdrawals before the 2014 exit date will be keyed carefully to combat conditions in Afghanistan. Mr. Cameron said the American surge, and the growing readiness of Afghan troops and police, ?has reversed the momentum of the insurgency,?and added: ?I have already said that there will be no U.K. troops in combat roles in Afghanistan by 2015 and, where conditions on the ground allow, it is right that we bring troops home sooner.?
Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=34e67e29d393d5d6a68ff41288961571
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