At the NATO summit in Bucharest, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has confirmed that France will be sending a contingent of extra forces to join the NATO mission in Afghanistan. The move appears to be part of a general drvive by the French to move closer to the US. And it comes as France edges closer to returning to NATO's military command, which it withdrew from more than four decades ago. And it all highlights France's apparent drive to play a more assertive role in international and european security structures. Let's take a closer look.