Steven Erlanger and Alissa J. Rubin: France Weighs Pulout after 4 of its Soldiers are Killed!

President  Nicolas Sarkozy of France suspended military training and assistance for Afghan forces on Friday and said he would consider an early withdrawal from Afghanistan after  an Afghan soldier shot and killed four French soldiers on a base in eastern Afghanistan. The killings are designed to sap Western  moral and hasten the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan sooner than agreed NATO  deadline of 20 of the end of 2014, when Afghan forces are supposed to be ready to defend the country on their own. A rising number of the attacks  have also been borne  of simmering animosity between coalition forces and the Afghan they fight alongside and train. With many European countries facing  unprecedented economic pressures at home,  such attacks by Afghan soldiers on foreign troops have added to public questioning of the value of continued  involvement involvement in Afghanistan. If France were to reduce its troops early or precipitously, it could spur other countries to follow suit, Western and Afghan officials warned. France has been a firm ally of the United States in Afghanistan, with the fourth-largest contingent of troops, according to NATO figures, and 82 French soldiers have died, many of them killed in fighting in Kapisa Province in eastern Afghanistan, where Friday's shooting occurred. Facing a fierce battle for his reelection, Mr. Sarkozy said that security had better improve in Afghanistan if France were going to stay.