French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday evening that French troops would restart their mission to train Afghan security personnel - a week after four soldiers were shot dead by a rebel infiltrator.

Sarkozy said French troops would complete their withdrawal from the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan at the end of 2013 - a year earlier than planned.

The French president made the announcement after a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Paris.

"The resumption of the training mission provided by French soldiers will be effective from tomorrow," Sarkozy said.

France suspended all training and support operations in Afghanistan last Friday after four of its soldiers were killed by a rogue Afghan soldier.

Gradual handover of responsibility

Although the troops will not complete their withdrawal immediately, Sarkozy said, the transfer of security responsibilities to Afghan forces in the province of Kapisa would begin in March this year. The president said that 1,000 of the 3,600 French soldiers currently deployed in the country would have left by the end of this year.

Foreign Minister Alain Juppe had confirmed on Tuesday that a speed up of troop withdrawal was possible in light of the gun attack, with such a move seen as a potential vote-winner for Sarkozy.

However, Paris appeared to have decided against that course of action earlier on Friday, when Defense Minister Gerard Longuet reaffirmed that France would stick to the NATO-led coalition timetable.

French polling agency CSA revealed on Thursday that 84 percent of the public were in favor of a pullout by the end of the year. Socialist presidential rival Francois Hollande has said that, if elected, he would withdraw all of France's troops from the country.

Author: Richard Connor (AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Nancy Isenson