France to Withdraw 1,000 Troops from Afghanistan; Sarkozy

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said during a visit to Afghanistan on Tuesday that France will pull out 1,000 troops from its mission there by the end of 2012, as it speeds up its withdrawal with the United States."It's necessary to end the war," he told journalists at a base in the district of Sarobi, north of the capital Kabul, where he was visiting troops. "We will pull out a quarter of our contingent, which is to say 1,000 soldiers, between now and the end of 2012," Sarkozy said in a speech to French troops at a base near Kabul. France has some 4,000 soldiers in Afghanistan. French soldiers have been involved in the US- and NATO-led Afghanistan operation since 2001. France has lost 64 soldiers from its 4,000-strong contingent, including a soldier killed on Monday by an accidental shot from his own camp in Kapisa. US President Barack Obama has announced that 33,000 US troops will leave by the end of next summer, effectively ending a military "surge" ordered into Afghanistan, principally the south, in late 2009. /129