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# France's troubled Afghan role
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/frances-troubled-afghan-role/
- Published: 2008-09-16T19:09:35.000Z
- Updated: 2019-02-14T22:59:14.000Z
- Author: David Hayes
- Tags: #en, #Migrated, #Import 2026-04-09 19:46

The escalating war in Afghanistan has been rising up the international  
agenda in parallel with evidence of the Taliban's increased  
sophistication and effectiveness. Paul Rogers has been [tracking](https://www.opendemocracy.net/article/afghanistan-the-edge-of-calamity)  
the conflict on **openDemocracy** since it began in October 2001, while  
writers such as Antonio Giustozzi have [noted](https://www.opendemocracy.net/article/conflicts/democracy%5Fterror/neo%5Ftaliban)   
the Taliban's capacity for reinvention - as well as the movement's  
reliance on material support and recruits from across the porous border  
with Pakistan.

But while most of the media coverage in the  
English-speaking world focuses on the American and British military  
contingents in Afghanistan, there is less attention to other national  
forces and how the casualties they face may influence public opinion at  
home. This makes Patrice de Beer's [survey](https://www.opendemocracy.net/article/france-in-afghanistan-a-wounded-mission)  
of France's experience all the more valuable. Amid the shock of losing  
ten soldiers in a single operation there is awareness that Nicolas  
Sarkozy's reorientation of France's international profile towards the  
United States implies more active international engagement. Patrice de  
Beer asks whether it is worth the price; and whether France in any case  
can afford to pay it.