Following the death of four French soldiers in Afghanistan on Saturday, French President François Hollande reaffirmed his decision to withdraw French combat forces from the country by the end of 2012, with the drawdown to begin in July. Hollande had already defended the move at last month’s NATO summit in Chicago, where it met with little public opposition from alliance members.
Militarily, the withdrawal of French troops will have little impact on the war effort. The transition of security operations to Afghan security forces in France’s area of responsibility, Kapisa province, had already begun in March, and the roughly the 4,000 French troops currently in Afghanistan represent just 3 percent of the total of the ISAF coalition. Of them, 1,500 will remain after 2012 in mentoring and noncombat roles.
Nonetheless, Hollande’s timeline, which accelerates France’s withdrawal by two years compared to the alliance’s previously agreed upon date of 2014, had reportedly generated concern among U.S. and NATO military planners in the run-up to the summit. And for a number of reasons, it represents an unforced error on the part of the recently elected French president.