French parliament votes for continued military presence in Afghanistan

Also voting with the UMP were their allies in the New Centre and the Democratic Movement (Mouvement démocrate, MoDem) of François Bayrou. Voting patterns were similar in the Senate, with 209 voting in favour and 119 voting against.

All the parliamentary parties accept the claim that the task of the military intervention forces is to fight terrorism and bring aid to the Afghan people.

In none of the debates or media coverage was it pointed out that the US political elite had long been preparing military interventions in Central Asia before the 9/11 terrorist attacks provided a pretext. This was in order to control the gas and oil resources in the region and thus continue to dominate the USs major rivals, Europe, Japan and China. French imperialisms support, along with that of other powers, was entirely predatory, wishing not to be left out of the share-out of the spoils.

The Socialist Party was at pains to make it clear that it was in fundamental agreement with the UMP on French policy in Afghanistan. The chairman of that group in the National Assembly, Jean-Marc Ayrault, told UMP deputies, We are united by the cause, separated by the means to achieve it.