Afstan: French not faltering (now)

The new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, seems to be maintaining the status quo, though there also seems a lot of nuance in what the French say:

On Afghanistan, where the Bush administration wants France and other troop-contributing countries to do more, not less, Mr. Sarkozy reiterated his campaign pledge that French troops would not remain there indefinitely, adding that he intended to raise the issue when he met with Mr. Bush.

“We do not have the mission to stay there forever, but to leave now would show a lack of unity with our allies,” Mr. Sarkozy said. He said it was essential to find a solution “between the two extremes,” and most important, to carry out the “gigantic job” of training the Afghan Army [second part of link]...