PARIS, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- French force will stay in Afghanistan but no more troops will be sent there, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in an interview to be published on Friday's edition of French daily Le Figaro.

    French military existence in the restless country is to aid Afghanistan "to win," Sarkozy said, "but France will send no more soldier."

    He stressed that the essential mission is to train the Afghan security forces as they are "the most effective factor to win the war."

    About 2, 900 French soldiers have been serving in post-Taliban Afghanistan under the flag of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Since 2001, a total of 36 French soldiers have been killed on the war-torn land.