France plans to withdraw 200 of its troops from Afghanistan next month.

A French military spokesman told reporters in Paris Thursday that a company of soldiers would leave Afghanistan by the end of October.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said that France will pull out 1,000 or a quarter of its troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2012. Most international combat troops are set to leave Afghanistan and transfer security to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.

Seventy-five French soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.