May 13, 2002	Monday	Safar 29, 1423

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PARIS, May 12: As a military aircraft from Pakistan arrived Sunday morning at Villacoublay military airfield outside of Paris - and two hours later at Cherbourg airport carrying bodies of 11 French nationals placed in new caskets - governmental authorities continue to ponder whether in fact France will continue to take part in the construction of the Agosta-90B submarines on which the naval employees were working in Karachi when they were killed.

In spite of Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie’s declaration of last Thursday in Karachi that France would continue its military cooperation with Pakistan, the precise date of the resumption of the collaboration has not yet been set.

Indeed, in the words of Gerard Clermont, the man who heads the Direction de la Construction Navale’s detachment in Karachi, nothing is less certain than whether construction of the Agosta-90B submarine, the second of three being built by the DCN in Karachi, will effectively be continued.

“We consider,” notes Mr Clermont, “that our mission (to Karachi) is momentarily ended.” And when asked whether he feels it is possible to resume the Agosta project given the terrorist attack, all he will say is that “evidently it’s very difficult to do so, given the conditions under which the work would resume.” To which he adds: “The only work we can truly turn to right now is absorb the shock of what happened, and attempt to come to grips with our grief.”

For, back in Paris, and in the wake of revelations carried in the Saturday edition of Le Monde according to which the conditions under which the Agosta contract was negotiated between France and Pakistan, the tendency within the French government has been to propose that Franco-Pakistani cooperation be suspended until a global study is undertaken of France’s military ties with Pakistan, to determine what in fact is at stake for France in the region.

There are many, for example, in the French government, and notably at the Quai d’Orsay, who point to obvious contradictions in France’s present foreign policy gameplan for the region, which sees France provide naval infrastructure - the Agosta-90Bs, but also some of its more sophisticated Exocet missiles - to Pakistan, giving it a strategic naval advantage in the Indian Ocean over archrival India, all the while providing India with a definitive air superiority through delivery of the Mirage-2000.

The new strategy — if a much hoped-for victory in legislative elections to be held on June 9 and 16 gives President Chirac a new majority which would stay in place until June 2007 - would see France attempt to redraft its foreign policy, not only bringing it up to date, but also permitting strategic planners to look ahead and decide what will henceforth be the country’s longer-term goals.

As far as Pakistan is considered, a preliminary assessment issued this weekend would indicate that Pakistan is henceforth high on the list of the risk-countries in which French citizens are being asked not to travel and where authorities will henceforth undertake special security measures to assure that those French nationals who must reside there will be better protected than in the past. Which is why too, as far as Pakistan is concerned, the last word has not yet been said — in spite of Defence Minister Alliot-Marie’s pledge of May 9 - that military cooperation with Pakistan will continue as in the past.

Also on the initial list is Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Georgia, Chechnya, Colombia, Chad, Liberia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Somalia.

Still, the list is subject to change, say Quai d’Orsay sources, notably as a function of the larger-scale inter-ministerial study which is to be completed only later this year, evidently after this June’s legislative vote at which time a Socialist win — which is considered as possible — could very well send strategic planners back to square one.