Reply #51: Some more things your ill-informed self might want to consider.

[arbusto_baboso]

Do you know the difference between France's Metro, Marine and Foreign Legion troops? Do you know how French law makes the 3 troop categories deployable and what the differences are? Do you know how many of France's troops are conscripts, and where it is legal to deploy conscripts? Do you know what large numbers of conscripts do to military training cycles? Do you know the French military logistic capacity, and its ability to supply troops for years at a time overseas in intense conflict zones? Do you know what other committments France has to NATO (including the Multi-National Rapid Reaction Corps) and which of its 3 types of troops are involved in that? Do you know the troop committments France has to the UN?

See, I know the answers (or can find them) to all those questions. Until you do (and it is obvious you do not), parrotting the 700,000 number is completely meaningless. France does not actually have anything close to 700,000 troops available for overseas deployment. The number is significantly less. Again, as I stated before, maintaining a force of 3,000 in Afghanistan is pretty respectable. Especially considering that NATO treay could reasonably be interpreted so that they wouldn't have to contribute ANYTHING.