Taliban forces killed ten French soldiers today in Afghanistan in what I believe is the largest loss of life for France thus far in the war. It’s interesting to check out the reader comments on Le Monde‘s coverage; sentiment runs strongly against French participation in the war and the term “quêpier” — which is like the French version of a quagmire, though it has a different literal meaning — comes up several times.
European public opinion is generally more anti-militarist than in the United States, so you’re bound to see some of this no matter what happens. But it’s worth considering that continued US engagement in Iraq has a really toxic impact on European public opinion regarded Afghanistan — insofar as we’re simultaneously engaged in both conflicts and our resources are somewhat fungible, Europeans are not wrong to believe that their deployments in Afghanistan serve, in part, to bolster the viability of an American mission in Iraq that they rightly see as unjust. Redeployment away from Iraq, an end to occupation there, and a more singular focus on the much more legitimate effort in Afghanistan would by no means eliminate anti-war European sentiment but it should reduce it to some extent.
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