Time
March 27, 2008
So it’s finally out in the open: French President Nicolas Sarkozy plans to send significant troop reinforcements to the NATO mission in Afghanistan. But while his long-anticipated decision to bolster the alliance’s struggling counterinsurgency mission will please the U.S., Britain and Canada, which had been urging their NATO partners to do more, Sarkozy’s announcement has prompted an unexpected uproar in France. Indeed, some commentators are warning that by expanding France’s exposure in a war considered just by a majority of French people, Sarkozy may be undermining public support of the mission. more