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WORLD> Asia-Pacific
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Sarkozy visits Kabul after French soldiers killed
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-20 20:03 KABUL, Afghanistan -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited a military chapel in Kabul on Wednesday where the bodies of 10 French soldiers killed in battle lay before they were to be flown home.
Sarkozy spoke to French troops from units who lost some of the 10 soldiers killed in a fierce Taliban ambush and firefight in the mountains about 30 miles east of Kabul on Monday. He also visited some of the 21 soldiers wounded in the battle. He told a group of soldiers some 200 strong that France must learn lessons from the attack and change its procedures. "Even though the toll is so high, you should be proud of what you are doing. The work that you're doing here is indispensable," Sarkozy told the troops. "We're gong to make sure that the means are put in place to ensure that this doesn't happen again." Sarkozy met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the presidential palace, where Karzai expressed his condolences. Karzai attributed the recent rise in violence in his country to the lack of attention that NATO and Afghanistan have paid to militant sanctuaries and training grounds, a clear reference to Pakistan's tribal area. |
