French president defends Afghan exit

The French president said that while Paris will withdraw its 2,000 combat troops - out of a total of 3,400 troops plus 150 gendarmes - by Dec. 31, it was not renouncing all support for Afghanistan. France so far has not pledged to help bankroll the Afghan security forces beyond 2014, but Hollande said some French forces would stay behind and help train Afghan soldiers and police.

"Is this an abandonment?" Hollande asked rhetorically during a function at the French Embassy in Kabul. "No. This is a continuation, and will be a further engagement, but in a different form."

France, which has lost more than 80 soldiers in the war, is the fifth-largest contributor of troops after the United States, Britain, Germany, and Italy.

The United States is pulling out 23,000 troops by the end of September, on top of the 10,000 it withdrew last year.

Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, said this week that on Sept. 30 there will be 68,000 U.S. and about 40,000 other coalition forces in Afghanistan - compared with more than 130,000 last year.

Many European countries face disillusionment and fatigue from the decade-long war and are wrestling with economic crises.

In an appeal to war-weary voters in a difficult reelection campaign, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to withdraw all French troops by the end of next year. Hollande, who defeated Sarkozy and took office this month, made this year's pullout a pillar of his election campaign.

France's military spokesman, Col. Thierry Burkhard, said the forces remaining include trainers, troops handling logistics for the pullout, and others who help protect the French hospital, air bases, and support staff.