Ten people died and 28 were wounded in Monday’s attack near a French military base in Tagab district, Kapisa province, north east of Kabul. “The reaction of the enemy is a reaction that I interpret positively. Our operations against them are doing them so much damage that they are resorting to desperate methods, even if it means civilian casualties,” General Marcel Druart said. The attack came as France’s parliament was to debate the country’s mission in Afghanistan, amid mounting domestic political concern over a war opposed by a majority of French voters.
France has the fourth largest contingent in the Nato force battling the Taliban in Afghanistan, with 3,750 personnel assigned to the mission, of whom 3,400 are based in Afghanistan itself.
This month, 2,500 French combat troops have been assigned to Task Force Lafayette, under American command, fighting in rough terrain northeast of Kabul to secure towns and transport links threatened by the rebels.
Druart, who was attending a “shura” of tribal elders 400 metres away when the militants struck, said he believed the target was the French base.