Sarkozy threatens to withdraw troops from Afghanistan after deaths of 4 soldiers

French President Nicolas Sarkozy threatened on Friday with withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and training operations suspended after an Afghan soldier killed four French soldiers, a month after two were killed in the same conditions.                                           
"French armed forces are by their allies, but we can not accept that a soldier is killed or hurt us by our allies," said the president, after the death of four soldiers who joined two French legionnaire killed it one months also an Afghan army gunfire that were forming.
"It is unacceptable and will not accept it," insisted the president, who must meet within a week with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in Paris to sign a cooperation agreement between the two countries. The Afghan president gave his condolences to France for the deceased.
"All operations of the French army training and fighting are suspended aid," said Sarkozy in a speech to the diplomatic corps.
"If you do not clearly establish the conditions for security, then we will consider the question of an early withdrawal of the French Army," said the authority gala.
For its part, the defense ministry said another 15 French soldiers were wounded in the shooting, eight of them seriously. The portfolio holder, Gerard Longuet, said that the soldiers were not armed and were "killed."
The French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the conditions of recruitment of Afghan forces. Kabul authorities should "commit to take steps to clarify the arrangements for recruitment of Afghan army and ensure the safety of the French," he said.
In his first reaction, the NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, gave his condolences to France. "It's a very sad day for our troops in Afghanistan and the French people," he said.
The International Force Security Assistance (ISAF) had announced just before the death of four of its soldiers by an Afghan military shooting and said that the soldier had been arrested locally.
For now, the French Army gave no details about what happened.
The attack occurred around 08:00 local (00:30 hours in Chile) in Tagab district in Kapisa province, "the area of ​​deployment of French forces, Afghan sources said.
"The alleged attacker was arrested," he said, for its part, ISAF had informed moments before the attack without specifying the nationality of the deceased.
After the shooting, the French army prohibited access to the base of Tagab Afghan soldiers, they said other sources.
On 29 December, an Afghan soldier and killed two French legionnaires who were forming in the province of Kapisa, northeast of Kabul, an area infiltrated by Taliban rebellion.
The four deaths today bring to 82 the number of French soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the start of the deployment of an international force in late 2001.
France currently has 3,600 troops deployed in Afghanistan, after which 400 were withdrawn last October. In total, 130,000 foreign troops, mostly Americans, are currently in that country.

U.S., Britain and Canada launch offensive sanctions to Iran

U.S., UK and Canada launched a battery of sanctions against Iran in various fields, while continuing the pressure on the Islamic government after complaints about its nuclear program.

Thus, the U.S. announced new sanctions affecting the petrochemical industry in this country anddeclared it a territory of "primary concern for money laundering."

This designation, based on anti-terrorism law enacted in 2001 during the administration of former President George W. Bush after the attacks of 11 / S, currently applies only to six banksaround the world. Only one other country, Myanmar has received throughout its territory.

"For the first time, the Treasury has identified the entire Iranian financial sector, including theIranian Central Bank, private banks and their subsidiaries operating abroad, as entities that pose risks of illicit financial global financial system," Geithner said in a press conference.

Measure does not involve the immediate application of sanctions against the Iranian CentralBank, but gives the Treasury authority to do so in the future and warns banks around the world that "if they hold any Iranian entity transactions, risk be declared illegal, "said the senior official.

U.S. President Barack Obama also issued an executive order that permits the imposition of sanctions on persons or entities "sell, rent or provide" to Iran goods, services or technology to"maintain or improve" Iran's oil capacity expand production of petrochemicals.

The British government, meanwhile, announced the breakup of their financial ties with Iranian banks. "The UK is ceasing all contacts between the British financial system and Iran," said George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer in London.French President Nicolas Sarkozy, proposed today a series of sanctions against Iran. The French proposal includes a freeze on central bank assets and an embargo on Iranian oil shippingin the Persian country.

The proposals were mentioned in a letter sent by the government Gallic political leaders of the United States, Germany, Japan, UK, Canada and the European Union. The document also stresses that Iran should not threaten any of its neighbors.