France is involved to a significant extent, essentially militarily, in the two multinational operations running in parallel in Afghanistan. Carrying out their operations in harmony, in spite of their radically different mandates, one is a coalition led by the United States in the war against terrorism, the other conducted by NATO. Although France does not, a priori, have a declared strategic interest in Central Asia, it holds firmly to a show of solidarity with its American and European allies. It has no intention of remaining permanently on Afghan soil, but has a strategic interest in maintaining its commitments alongside the 39 other allied nations–at any rate, for as long as the security situation requires it, and as long as the Afghan authorities cannot take autonomous responsibility for their own security and sovereignty across the entire country.

A Commitment which Bears Significant Witness to our Transatlantic Solidarity

In the wake of the American intervention in Afghanistan following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, France decided to participate in the US-led coalition, in the framework of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), in order to forestall the reconstitution of an Islamist terrorist sanctuary and the creation of a narco-state. France’s land, air and naval force contribution is substantial. In summer 2003, at the same time that France was being reviled for its objection to the Iraq intervention, a Special Forces detachment was sent to south Afghanistan, above all to demonstrate France’s unswerving solidarity with the United States. Simultaneously, NATO took command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) from August 2003. From spring 2006 it expanded geographically across the entire Afghan theatre, replacing OEF, considerably reduced, and from which the phase of eradication of Islamist terrorism was officially handed over. Out of solidarity with members of the Alliance, particularly the Europeans, France offered to participate in ISAF from the very beginning, with the proposal to establish a regional command in Kabul, symbolic city and the political heart of Afghanistan. France took command of the Capital Region (RC-C) on a rotating basis, for eight months, starting from August 2006, and will continue to participate successively with Turkey (April-December 2007) then with Italy (December 2007-August 2008). France is linked to its two other partners in the RC-C by trilateral agreements up to August 2008.

France is thus committed both to OEF (maritime component as part of Task Force 150 and land force element with Operation Epidote) and to ISAF, under the operational control of Commander ISAF, with a total of nearly 2,000 men deployed full-time. The ground element in ISAF is limited to 1,000 soldiers in Operation Pamir on Afghan territory. In addition to the French battalion based on Kabul, France has opted to direct its efforts to training the Afghan Army, in line with the declared aims of transferring full responsibility for the security of their country to the Afghan authorities and institutions. In the NATO framework, three French Operational Mentoring Liaison Teams (OMLTs) are deployed in the Kabul region, in support of an army corps, a brigade and a kandak (infantry battalion). Another three OMLTs are scheduled for deployment in the second half of 2007. Simultaneously, France has participated since 2003 in the OEF framework by training Afghan officers at all levels, including staff officers (Operation Epidote, some 4,500 Afghan officers already trained). Moreover, France has a permanent air element deployment in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in support of two operations (six combat, two refuelling and two tactical transport aircraft). The importance of the French contribution to ISAF (the seventh largest) is shown also by the presence of French officers at operational and tactical headquarters. France fills the posts of Chief Ops Plans in odd years and Chief Op Con in even years.