France honours soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Under a bleak sky and pouring rain, French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid solemn tribute to seven French soldiers killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan at a ceremony at the historic Les Invalides military complex in central Paris Tuesday.

Sarkozy praised the “discipline, fidelity, courage, and honour” of the soldiers, before pausing to address them directly. “You have fallen in a just war against fanatical assassins who had no honour and had imprisoned an entire people,” he said. “It was a noble mission, and you accomplished it nobly…You sacrificed yourselves for a great cause, and you defended your country’s finest values.”

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The seven soldiers were killed over a period of four days in Afghanistan last week. One of the men was killed in an “accidental fire” incident on July 11, while five died in a suicide bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan on July 13, the eve of France’s national holiday, Bastille Day. It was the highest French death toll in a single incident in Afghanistan since a 2008 attack killed 10 French soldiers.

The seventh soldier was killed on July 14th, Bastille Day, in a fire-fight with Taliban fighters.

Under French military protocol, fallen soldiers are honoured by the state and decorated posthumously in the presence of their loved ones and their fellow soldiers. Tuesday’s ceremony will be held in the majestic Les Invalides, a 17th century military complex built under Louis IV.

“This is an extremely symbolic place,” said FRANCE 24’s Aurore Dupuis reporting from Les Invalides. “This is where a military hospital is based and where France’s military heroes are buried and where Napoleon Bonaparte’s ashes are kept.”

Comrades of the fallen men carried the seven flag-draped coffins to the Saint-Louis chapel under the famous golden dome of Les Invalides at the start of the religious ceremony Tuesday. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon and MPs from across the political spectrum attended the ceremony, with firemen turning out under driving rain and unseasonably chilly weather to pay homage as the funeral cortege drove past.

Shortly after the religious ceremony, Sarkozy delivered the eulogy and decorated the soldiers posthumously.

Soldiers to be decorated posthumously

Before the ceremony, Sarkozy met with relatives of the dead soldiers at the Elysée presidential palace.

France has the fourth-largest contingent in NATO’s Afghanistan mission, with 4,000 troops. Most of them are stationed east of Kabul to shield the Afghan capital from insurgents infiltrating through the porous Pakistani border. Since 2001, 69 French soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan.

Last week, Sarkozy visited Afghanistan, where he met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai as well as French troops stationed in the war-torn country. His July 12th visit coincided with the “friendly fire” killing of a 22-year-old French soldier.

The French government has announced plans to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, with a quarter of the French troops scheduled to be withdrawn before the end of 2012 ahead of the 2014 withdrawal set US President Barack Obama for US troops.

Violence in Afghanistan is currently at its worst since US-backed Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001. More than 2,500 foreign troops have died in Afghanistan since the war began almost 10 years ago.

In his closing remarks Tuesday, Sarkozy ended with a robust homage to France’s military and its fallen troops: “Soldiers who have died for France, you are the face in which France recognises its most beautiful human values,” he said. “All of France bows before your coffins.”