France Announces Afghan Troops Withdrawal

France will progressively withdraw its forces in Afghanistan, with a timetable similar to that announced by for US troops, the president's office said Thursday. President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said in a statement that NATO member France would make a "progressive" withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan "in a proportional manner and in a timeframe similar to the pullback of the American reinforcements." The statement came after US President Barack Obama on Wednesday ordered all 33,000 US surge troops home from Afghanistan by next summer and declared the beginning of the end of the war, saying the withdrawal would begin this July.