Osama bin Laden warned France to remove its troops from Afghanistan Wednesday, French Defense Minister Herve Morin announced Thursday, Oct. 28 that the withdrawal of French troops would begin in early 2011. Paris then raised its terror alert level to “red” after confirming the authenticity of the Bin Laden audiotape aired Wednesday.
Defense minister Herve Morin said the decision to pull out 3,750 French troops was not connected to the Bin Laden threat.
DEBKAfile First steps for French pullout from Afghanistan day after Bin Laden threat