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French President’s Visit to Kabul Due to Death of French Peacekeepers: Afghan Foreign Ministry Representative

Politics Materials 20 August 2008 17:45 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, 20 August / Trend corr. D.Khatinoglu / The first reason for French President's visit to Kabul became death of ten French peacekeepers as a result of terror act on 19 August. "Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to Kabul is due to death of French peacekeepers in Afghanistan,' Sultan Ahmad Behin, Afghan Foreign Ministry official representative, told Trend .

French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Afghanistan on 20 August. Ten French peacemakers were killed by terrorists in the east of the country on 19 August.

According to Behin, Sarkozy's visit follows two main purposes. "First is due to death of ten French peacemakers as a result of terror act committed on 19 August. French President arrived in Kabul to support militaries, who serve their military services in Afghanistan. Second is Sarkozy wants prove to official Kabul that France will take all the necessary steps to restore peace in the country," Behin said via a telephone from Kabul.

It is expected that the control over Kabul will be transmitted to the Afghan Army this month. According to Behin, transmission of the control over Kabul to Afghan Army does not mean the end of NATO activity in the area and support of local forces.

General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, official representative of Afghan Defense Ministry, told Trend that the preparations were taken to transmit the control over Kabul to Afghanistan. Sarkozy's visit to the region has nothing common with the aforesaid transmission.

"Sarkozy went to Kabul to present his condolences due to death of French peacemakers," Azimi said via a telephone from Kabul. The local Afghan militaries will be commissioned with the security in Kabul within the week. According to Azimi, some 75,000 people serve military service in Afghanistan. Some $9mln was allocated to train militaries.

The correspondent can be contacted at:[email protected]

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