http://www.boston.com/dailynews/320/world/France_sends_troops_to_norther:.shtml

France sends troops to northern Afghanistan

By Francis Mazoyer, Associated Press, 11/16/2001 07:33

ISTRES, France (AP) France sent its first contingent of soldiers to northern Afghanistan on Friday as part of an international effort to help secure the area for the delivery of humanitarian aid, the Defense Ministry said.

A total of 58 French soldiers were due to arrive in the northeastern city of Mazar-e-Sharif over the weekend after flying first to Turkey and Uzbekistan, a ministry spokesman said.

A Transall military plane carrying 30 soldiers took off from the Istres air base in southern France at Friday afternoon. A second plane was scheduled to depart soon after.

''This operation is intended to establish a secure base in Mazar-e-Sharif to facilitate the rebuilding of infrastructure and normal living conditions in the northern zone of Afghanistan,'' a statement from the Defense Ministry said.

A spokesman said the unit consisted primarily of paratroopers and engineers, whose initial mission would be to restore the city's airport for use by aid workers.

France said has already sent intelligence officers into Afghanistan as part of some 2,000 French military personnel in the region, including naval and air force units.

About 100 British troops arrived Thursday at an air base in Bagram, north of Kabul, on a mission to prepare the facility for use in a future humanitarian mission.

French Defense Minister Alain Richard had said Thursday that France planned to send soldiers within days, though he did not specify the size of the overall force. Le Figaro newspaper reported Friday the number could total 400.

President Jacques Chirac on Wednesday told U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that France was willing to use military means to help get humanitarian aid to northern Afghanistan.

A French delegation has already traveled to Uzbekistan to gauge the level of military assistance needed to help humanitarian organizations in northern Afghanistan, Defense Ministry spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau said. The four-person team is working with U.S. forces stationed in the alliance-held Mazar-e-Sharif area, Bureau said.

''The situation in the Mazar-e-Sharif area is not secure enough for non-governmental organizations to work,'' Bureau said.

-- Anonymous, November 16, 2001