Shortly after he learned of the deaths of 10 French soldiers killed by Taleban insurgents, President Nicolas Sarkozy issued a statement saying he was travelling to Afghanistan to "assure the French troops that France stands by them".France does indeed stand by the courage of its serving soldiers but the French leader is deluding himself if he believes the French people also stand by the war.
A survey taken in April this year, when the president announced he was sending a further battalion of almost 800 soldiers to north-east Afghanistan, showed that two-thirds of people here believe their country had no place in the conflict.
The opposition Socialists reacted to the news of more troops by trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to pass a no-confidence vote.
The left-leaning Liberation newspaper said on Wednesday that it was time for France to face up to the fact that, like it or not, it was now engaged in a full-blown war 5,000km (3000 miles) away.
The real challenge for the French soldiers, claimed a bitter editorial, was how to win an unwinnable war.
And exactly whose war is it? That is the question that most French people are asking.
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BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7572612.stm
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