Afstan: Que para, para

Oh dear. French President Sarkozy, under domestic political pressure, sure seems to be backing off from sending an effective combat unit as had hitherto been expected:

France could send "a few hundred" extra troops to Afghanistan, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has told MPs.

In a stormy National Assembly debate, he rejected opposition Socialist calls for a parliamentary vote on the plan.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to announce the details of a new deployment to Afghanistan at a Nato summit this week in Bucharest, Romania...

He told the National Assembly: "Our armed forces in Afghanistan may invest more in the command structures, particularly in Kabul, in training the Afghan army and in the units in the Afghan provinces.

"The numbers could be something like a few hundred extra soldiers."

An opinion poll on Monday said 68% of French people disapproved of any strengthening of the French troop presence in Afghanistan. Just 15% approved...

Mr Fillon reiterated French conditions to any new troop deployment, saying there must be faster reconstruction.

He also said by the summer of 2009 the Afghan army had to take responsibility for security around Kabul, where the bulk of French troops are based [emphasis added--that's a bit of an ultimatum, not that Canada could criticize].

And the French prime minister called on other Nato allies to boost their forces...

So are the French going to pressure the German, Italians or Spanish to engage in some combat? Especially when it looks like the French themselves are getting pieds froids?

ISAF forces map here.