Nicolas Sarkozy - France Will Withdraw 1,000 Troops From Afghanistan In Late 2012

France will pull a quarter of its troops from Afghanistan by the end of next year.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has made the declaration during an unannounced flying visit to the country.

Currently, about 4,000 French soldiers in Afghanistan. The remaining troops will be located in the province of Kapisa. French soldiers were involved in military operations against Taliban rebels since 2001.

Sarkozy was forced to spend only five hours, and there was a meeting with Afghan Leaders Hamid Karzai and Gen. David Petraeus.

David Cameron - UK to withdraw 500 troops from Afghanistan in 2012

British Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed Wednesday that UK will withdraw 500 troops from Afghanistan in 2012, modestly reducing the size of the second foreign force in the country for 9000.

"This reduction reflects the progress made in building the Afghan security forces nationwide," Cameron said legislators hours after returning from Afghanistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he hoped that Britain "could continue to help Afghanistan to build our infrastructure, to build a civil society", at the same time it lowered its military operation.