The new French President François Hollande arrived here today on a surprise visit to Afghanistan where he inspected French troops and met his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai.

During the visit, President Hollande defended his decision to withdraw French forces from the country by the end of this year.

It is to be noted that France deploys about 3,550 troops among whom 83 ones have been killed since 2001.
Source: BNA