By KUNA
Paris : French President Nicolas Sarkozy is meeting Friday evening with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer to discuss a variety of issues, but principally the organizations role in Afghanistan and Kosovo, official sources said.
The two men will also be discussing preparations for the next NATO summit meeting to be held in Bucharest April 2-4, Sarkozy’s spokesman David Martinon said.
The United States, which is the major contributor to NATO forces and the most powerful country in the Alliance, has been critical of some members’ commitment to Afghanistan, in particular, and has called for more troops and equipment to fight the Taliban groups there.
Sarkozy, who was reticent initially about Frances determination to stay long-term in Afghanistan, has now come around to the US view and is promising more combat instructors and other help for the NATO forces.
Already there are just over 1,000 French troops in Afghanistan, mainly in the relatively quiet area around the capital, Kabul, and France also has a squadron of fighters in the more troubled area of Kandahar.
A French unit of 200 Special Forces employed in fighting Al-Qaeda and Taliban units in the mountainous caves of south-eastern Afghanistan was withdrawn last year after several years of combat alongside US Special Forces.
France frequently deploys its lone aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, in the waters off Pakistan to fly sorties in Afghanistan but the vessel is required to spend several months at a time in its French port for retooling.