French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced the phased withdrawal¹ of its 4,000 soldiers serving in Afghanistan.

法国总统尼古拉·萨科奇宣布分阶段撤退在阿富汗服役的4000名士兵。

A statement said the French would follow the timetable of US withdrawals² announced by President Barack Obama.

Mr Obama said 10,000 US troops would pull out this year, with another 23,000 leaving by the end of September 2012.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai welcomed the move, but the Taliban dismissed（开除，解散） it as "symbolic³" and vowed⁴ to continue fighting until all foreign forces left.

At least 68,000 US troops will remain in the country after the 33,000 have been withdrawn⁵, but they are scheduled to leave by 2013, provided that Afghan forces are ready to take over security.

However the US reductions just announced are larger and faster than military commanders had advised.

They told the president that the recent security gains were fragile and reversible, and had urged him to keep troop numbers high until 2013.

Correspondents say the enormous cost of the deployment⁶ - currently more than $2bn (£1.25bn) a week - has attracted criticism from Congressional leaders, while the public are weary of a war that seems to have no end and has left at least 1,500 personnel dead and 12,000 wounded.

There have also been changes on the ground, notably⁷ the killing⁸ in May of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin⁹ Laden¹⁰ by US forces in Pakistan.