Sarkozy meets troops in Afghanistan

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has flown to Afghanistan to meet troops.

Mr Sarkozy said he has no regrets about sending troops to the country even after the Taliban killed ten soldiers in the biggest single loss for foreign forces since 2001.

The troops were killed in a major battle that erupted when Taliban insurgents ambushed a French patrol 40 miles east of the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday.

The president told soldiers at a base outside Kabul: "The best way of remaining faithful to your comrades is to continue the work, to lift your heads, to be professional."

He added: "I don't have any doubt about that. We have to be here."

Mr Sarkozy sent an extra 700 troops to Afghanistan this year, bringing the total number of French soldiers in Afghanistan to about 2,600.

He said: "I tell you in all conscience, if it had to be done again, I would do it.

"A part of the world's freedom is at stake here. This is where the fight against terrorism is being waged.

"We are not here against the Afghans. We are with the Afghans so as not to leave them alone in the face of barbarism."

Mr Sarkozy paid his respects to the dead soldiers before visiting wounded soldiers at a French hospital and holding talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The loss of ten troops was the worst suffered by the French army in a single incident since 58 paratroops were killed by a suicide bomber in Lebanon in 1983, and the worst in combat with enemy forces since the Algerian war that ended in 1962.

It was also the worst single loss in combat for troops from NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan since US-led forces toppled the Taliban.

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