Officials haven't yet confirmed that French troops will bolster Canadian soldiers fighting in southern Afghanistan, but there are signs indicating the decision has already been made.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay has confirmed Canadian officials are meeting with their French counterparts in Paris and said the countries are discussing "logistics."
"We knocked on a lot of doors and some of them opened," MacKay told reporters. "France is one of those countries, now that we're going to continue to have some discussions about logistically how we can make it happen."
CTV's Tom Kennedy, reporting Friday from a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Vilnius, Lithuania, said the decision seems to have been made.
"Even though it's not being said officially, all indications are that there has been a breakthrough of some sort. And this delegation... that's in Paris talking things over with the French government, the emissary says they're not talking about whether or not France is going to send troops to help out the Canadian soldiers, they're now talking logistics," Kennedy told Â鶹´«Ã½net.
Canada has given its NATO allies until April to drum up the troops. But French officials have said its doubtful a firm commitment could be made by that time.
Nonetheless, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been working the phones to get NATO allies on board to commit more troops.
On Friday, he phoned the prime minister of the Netherlands. He informed Jan Peter Balkenende about the Manley report and its recommendation that NATO allies need to supply more soldiers for the Afghan mission if Canada is to stay in that country beyond 2009.
The call followed recent converstations with U-S President Bush, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai recently said he was "not sure that sending more troops is the right answer." But the country's ambassador to Canada assured CTV's Mike Duffy Live that the government believes a NATO presence is necessary and appreciates the commitment by countries such as Canada.
"We haven't reached the stage where we should discuss withdrawal or an endgame to this mission," Omar Samad said on Friday. "The job still continues, and it is not done until we reach certain things, certain benchmarks."
He said such benchmarks include the establishment of the Afghan army, police and the independence of government institutions.
Samad said while the army continues to grow and strengthen, the police service has remained in turmoil.
"We tried, for the past three or four years, to bring some reform. That didn't get the desired results, we're starting again," he said.
Harper has said he will only extend Canada's combat role in Afghanistan beyond the February 2009 deadline if NATO countries come up with another 1,000 troops to help out in the south.
Kennedy said reaching the 1,000 troop mark could be a problem.
"Canada has said 1,000. One figure we're hearing in the back rooms here is France is talking about maybe 700, so there may be a bit of a hole left to fill," he said.
There is no word whether those would be new troops, or whether French troops already stationed in Afghanistan will be redeployed to the volatile south.
Kennedy also said that if France transfers troops who are providing security in northern Afghanistan, other countries would have to fill that gap.
France has just under 2,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan.
French Defence Minister Herve Morin said French President Nicolas Sarkozy would announce any final decisions.
On Friday, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer continued to appeal for volunteers to bolster Canadian troops.
"Optimism is not enough. It needs concrete action to become reality," he told the gathered defence ministers.
Denmark's minister has expressed sympathy for Canada's position, but their troops are already engaged in other parts of Afghanistan's dangerous south.
Poland said on Thursday that it would not provide troops but that a previous offer to supply two Mi-17 transport helicopters still stands.
So far, Germany, Italy, Spain and France have also refused to position their troops for a combat role in Afghanistan.
Kennedy said a more sympathetic government could take power in Italy following an April election.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that anger over the U.S. invasion of Iraq could be the reason why some European allies are reluctant to send more combat troops to Afghanistan.
With files from The Canadian Press
