“This is the end of combat operations,” Mr Burkhard said, adding that the withdrawal went smoothly. “It’s the end of support operations for the Afghan National Army because we have no more troops who can deploy in such a role.”

France was once one of the largest contributors to the Nato mission in Afghanistan, with a peak deployment of 4,000 troops – though far smaller than the tens of thousands of US troops there. Since mid-2008, French forces were deployed in Kapisa, a crescent-shaped and strategic region along mountains between Kabul and the Pakistani border.

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