Succumbing to UK-US pressure France and other NATO countries have agreed to send their troops in the extremely troubled area of Afghanistan, Southern Afghanistan. Till now France and other countries were mainly stationed in the northern region which is considerably les troubled and they were resisting the pressure for months to not to send their troops to the southern region.
Under the changed equation these countries will now send reinforcement to the southern part. As of now, the U.S, Britain, Canada, and Netherlands have suffered 90 percent casualties in Afghanistan and these casualties took place while fighting Taliban in the southern region. However, this time around, it has been speculated that there is 20 percent shortage of troops in the south.
On the other hand, France, Germany, Italy and Spain stationed in relatively calm northern region have earlier shown their reluctance to send their troops to South, extending national restrictions on their mission.
Much earlier the NATO command in Afghanistan, dominated by the U.S. and Britain had urged for an extra 2,500 troops. Now, in the new arrangement it has been speculated that the around 2000 more troops may be moved to southern region. Making the fresh arrangement lighter the NATO chief has reportedly indicated towards exit route saying Afghan forces could begin taking charges from the NATO forces in 2008. However, military analysts are of the view that NATO forces are likely to stay in the country for another decade.
However, even in the latest arrangement, things have not changed much as it is still shrouded in ambiguity and confusion. The French president has offered ’sporadic’ deployment of French troops outside Kabul that too on ‘case-by-case’ basis. Therefore, the term ‘case-by-case’ is still not defined.
Spain and Italy have also given their consent to send their troops in the South during emergency. Germany apparently struggling to give consent as the German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made it clear that during emergencies they can help NATO command in the South but their place is in North. Further, German foreign ministry stated that offer to help in the south did not amount to change in the policy.
Therefore, it becomes very clear that all the countries have reluctantly given their guarded consent in the NATO meeting on the issue of sending troops to Southern Afghanistan.
