France rejects call for more troops for Afghanistan

France has ruled out committing any more soldiers to its Afghanistan-based contingent amid US pressure on allies for military reinforcements.

“If there is a need for more people to train, to help the police to undertake civil engineering, to help the population, to help Afghanistan, why not? But combat troops? No,” President Nicolas Sarkozy told the French TV channel TF1 on Monday, AFP reported.

NATO pledged last year to boost the so-called counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan by 7,000 more troops.

The decision came in response to a call for more boots on the ground by Washington, which said it would scale up its own contingent by 30,000 extra forces.

Afghanistan is experiencing the highest level of violence since the war began in 2001, despite the presence of about 113,000 foreign soldiers, mostly US troops.

Meanwhile, Germany is considering boosting its roughly 4,300-strong contingent by at least 500 more troops, the regional daily The Rheinische Post reported.