First 200 French soldiers leave Afghanistan

KABUL: Around 200 French soldiers flew out of Kabul on Wednesday, becoming the first French troops to leave Afghanistan as part of phased withdrawals set to end NATO's combat mission by the end of 2014.

An AFP reporter saw the soldiers' A340 jet take off from Kabul airport at around 5:00 pm (1230 GMT).

In total, a quarter of France's current troop deployment is scheduled to withdraw from Afghanistan before the end of 2012, ahead of a full drawdown of NATO's combat mission scheduled in 2014.