THE French magazine Paris Match published pictures yesterday of Taleban fighters with "trophies" taken from French soldiers killed last month in Afghanistan.
The images, have set off a new round of pained debate about the French presence there.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the president, and his ministers have repeatedly said that since ten French soldiers were killed in an ambush on 18 August, France would not
falter in its determination to fight the "medieval" and "barbaric" Taleban.
But the pledges ring hollow in the ears of many French people who are suddenly being served blanket coverage of a faraway conflict involving about 2,600 French soldiers that had previously been confined to the inside pages of newspapers.
Paris Match rekindled emotions with its spread of photos of Taleban fighters displaying French army guns, uniforms, helmets, a walkie-talkie and a wristwatch they said were taken from dead soldiers during the 18 August ambush.
"It's a shock to see our children's killers parading their uniforms, their weapons," said Joel Lepahun, the father of one of the dead soldiers, on RTL radio.
Hervé Morin, the defence minister suggested that the magazine's reporters had done the Taleban a favour in the propaganda war.
"Should we be doing the Taleban's promotion for them?" he asked. "The Taleban are waging a war of communication."
The full article contains 224 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
