NATO chief calls on France to stick to Afghan plan

The head of NATO called on France on Thursday to continue its training operations in Afghanistan until a planned withdrawal, despite the killing of four French soldiers by a rogue Afghan soldier.    

President Nicolas Sarkozy last week suspended all French ground operations in Afghanistan after the incident, which came amid NATO's efforts to expand the Afghan security forces so they can take over when Western combat forces leave in 2014.    

"As regards the French contribution to our operation in Afghanistan, let me stress that we all agreed at the Lisbon summit to a process of transition of security responsibility to Afghan forces and an associated timeline," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a news conference at NATO headquarters.    

"We outlined a roadmap and it's important to the success of our operations that we maintain a commitment to this agreed plan," he said referring to a decision taken at NATO's last summit, which took place in Lisbon in 2010.    
The French government said on Tuesday it would wait until Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited Paris on Friday to sign a cooperation treaty before deciding whether to speed up the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan.   

Reuters