French Making Progress in Sarobi District, Kabul Province, Afghanistan

Over 2,500 French troops are stationed in eastern Afghanistan in Kabul Province.  They have made some good progress over the last few years in Sarobi District - a part of eastern Kabul Province.  The French are based out of Forward Operating Base Tora.  The French commander cites a number of reasons for the progress - the Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP) are becoming more professional; the ANA officers - usually from ethnic groups of northern Afghanistan - are acting "nationally not ethnically" in a Pashtun area; the district officials are not "particularly corrupt" to the extent they alienate the public against the Afghan central government; and western donor nations are pumping lots of money into the district.  The French commander hopes that the Afghan security forces can take the lead for security in the province in early 2011.  Read the news article in "French General Mixes Formula for a bit of Afghan Calm", The New York Times, October 13, 2010.