Troops caught by too much trust: French Gen

KABUL (AFP) - French forces caught in a deadly ambush that killed 10 men in Afghanistan this week had been too “trusting”, the top French General with the Nato force said Sunday.

The soldiers were ambushed Monday in the Sarobi area, about 50km east of the capital Kabul, in the deadliest battle for international troops in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

“We were misled by too much trust,” General Michel Stollsteiner told reporters in Kabul.

He said that new watchwords for the troops are vigilance and intelligence.

“There had been only one area, at the northern limits, where villagers told them, ‘Do not go beyond that limit because otherwise there will be problems,’” he said.

This was the only information available to the team that returned later to be confronted by about 100 Taliban in an ambush followed by hours of fighting, said Stollsteiner who also commands Nato-led troops in central Afghanistan.