French President Meets With Karzai in Afghanistan Pool photo by Omar Sobhani President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and President François Hollande of France inspected an honor guard in Kabul on Friday. KABUL, Afghanistan - President François Hollande of France made a surprise visit to French troops in Kapisa Province on Friday, assuring them that their mission in Afghanistan would be over this year. The visit came less than a week after the new French president announced at a NATO summit that France would pull its troops out of Afghanistan by the end of this year, two years ahead of the 2014 deadline previously agreed to by NATO and the United States for withdrawal. At a news conference here with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Mr. Hollande said that while French combat forces would leave this year, French advisers and trainers would remain in the country helping the Afghan ministries of defense and interior. In addition, he said, French nonmilitary aid would be increased, although he did not give any specifics. President Karzai did not refer to the French troop withdrawal during the brief news conference, which was cut short by rain before anyone asked his views on the subject. The French president also met with representatives of Afghan human rights groups, civic organizations and private enterprise, and stressed that France would remain committed to Afghanistan even as its troops leave, according to one participant. With 3,300 troops in Afghanistan, France has the fifth-largest troop contingent. Even before Mr. Hollande won as the Socialist candidate for president on May 6, his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, had announced plans to accelerate France's withdrawal in response to the killings of six French troops by Afghan government soldiers in two separate attacks, on Dec. 29 and Jan. 20. The episode took place on the main highway between Kandahar and Kabul, in Qarabagh District. A second passenger bus was also blown up by a roadside bomb in southern Helmand Province, with two people reported killed, said Gulai Khan, the district governor of Gerishk District. That bus was traveling between Herat and Kabul when the bomb was set off. The authorities blamed the Taliban for both attacks. Reporting was contributed by Jawad Sukhanyar from Kabul, and an employee of The New York Times from Helmand Province.