He also refrained from additional big troop buildups.
Big troop increases ordered by Mr. Obama have led to security gains in many places.
Military analysts in Israel's leading newspapers, who often reflect the army's thinking, raised the prospect of big troop incursions into Lebanon.
Sarkozy broadly endorsed a high-level military commission's recommendations in June for big troop and base cuts (with financial savings going into better equipment), more stress on intelligence, and the reintegration of French forces into NATO's military command.
"The economy is very, very slow there at the moment because it had the artificial boost from a big troop presence: many, many foreign troops create a whole infrastructure which is a bubble effect.
So, the only way we get a big troop increase quickly is for the Pentagon to reverse its awful decision to disband (and unemploy) the Iraqi Army -- most of whom refused to fight for Saddam in the first place.
He also said he wants the discussion about the United States' next moves in Afghanistan to be honest and the debate should not be based on false choices between big troop increases or leaving the country.
Because we are once again having one of those big troop debates: Do we send more forces to Afghanistan, and are we ready to do what it takes to "win" there?
But military commanders are thought to be reluctant to withdraw troops from more active battlefields like Kandahar and Helmand Provinces in the south, for fear of losing some of the gains made there, so quieter areas may see big troop reductions, with the risk that the insurgents will take advantage of that, some analysts worry.
South Africa has 1,300 peacekeepers in Burundi and 1,500 in Congo; the country is a fairly big troop contributor to the United Nations, but is running short of soldiers not infected with HIV/AIDS (a scourge in which Mr Mbeki, as it happens, does not believe).
