DUSHANBE, December 12, Asia-Plus -- France’s Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie will arrive in Tajikistan on December 16, according to the Tajik MFA.

A source at the Tajik MFA said that the French defense minister will arrive in Tajikistan as part of inspection of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in neighboring Afghanistan.  

A contingent of France’s Air Force has been deployed at the Dushanbe airport since December 2001 to support operations by the antiterrorist coalition in Afghanistan.