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Global

France said to send troops to Afghan combat zone


    PARIS (Reuters) - France may send hundreds of ground troops to eastern Afghanistan where NATO-led forces are fighting al Qaeda-backed insurgents, Le Monde newspaper reported on Tuesday.

    It said the move would be part of a new Afghan policy beingworked out by President Nicolas Sarkozy and his advisers.

    France has about 1,900 soldiers under NATO's Afghancommand, most of them based in relatively calm Kabul, and LeMonde said the fresh troops would be deployed outside thecapital.

    "Their destination would be zones of potentially fiercefighting, preferably the eastern region of Afghanistan close tothe tribal areas of Pakistan," it said.

    Early last year, France withdrew 200 special forcessoldiers who had been operating under U.S. command inAfghanistan, but Le Monde said Paris was now expected tosanction the return of the special forces. About 50 remained totrain Afghan commandos.

    A presidential spokesman declined to confirm or deny thenewspaper report. "The president has not made a decision. Weare in discussion with our partners, inside NATO but notexclusively," he said.

    Washington is heading a campaign for what it calls a fairersharing of the burden in the fight against Taliban insurgents.Britain, Canada, Poland and others have backed the U.S. demand.

    Germany, Italy and Spain have troops in relatively secureareas and have refused to send troops to southern and easternprovinces where the militants are most active.

    At a meeting in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius earlier thismonth, NATO defence ministers with troops fighting the Talibanin the south of Afghanistan backed calls by the United Statesfor more countries to send forces there.

    NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said last weekthe alliance's future rested on its mission in Afghanistan.

    Earlier this month, senior Canadian officials had talks inParis on a possible offer of French support for 2,500 Canadiantroops in southern Afghanistan.

    Le Monde said Sarkozy would announce France's extendedmilitary commitment at a NATO summit in Bucharest in April.

    Since his election in May, he has sent more combat aircraftto Kandahar in southern Afghanistan and beefed up Frenchefforts to train the Afghan army.

    (Reporting by Andrew Dobbie; Editing by Janet Lawrence)