Afghanistan - Military - French Pilots on Kandahar Air Base

French pilots pose for a group photo at Kandahar air base in front of Rafale and Mirage combat aircraft. France redeployed six fighter planes from Tajikistan to the NATO base in Afghanistan last fall. The Mirages, which are part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan, continue to take part in ISAF operations, notably patrolling in southern Afghanistan, a Taliban stronghold. During the last NATO summit in April, French President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed that France will send a battalion of troops to the east of Afghanistan as part of efforts to bolster the alliance's peacekeeping force. The number of French troops in Afghanistan would reach about 3,000 after the arrival of a fresh battalion. (Photo by Antoine Gyori/AGP/Corbis via Getty Images)