The war in Afghanistan is going badly, the NATO Secretary General is calling for European countries to do more and so what do the Germans do? Send several hundred troops to be stationed in France.

While terrific fodder for late night comedians – no, so far I’ve not seen any Parisians rush to their attics to dust off their white flags – the announcement by French and German political leaders on Saturday also signals how little the U.S. accomplished during this weekend’s annual security conference in Munich. Although the speech by U.S. Vice President, Joe Biden, was generally well received, no firm commitments to help out more actively in Afghanistan were forthcoming.

The Franco-German agreement will see around 700 soldiers based outside Strasbourg. They will be there as part of a Franco-German brigade that leaders agreed to set up in 1987; the unit was formally stood up two years later. In 1996, the unit had its first operational deployment as part of NATO’s efforts in Bosnia. Under the original agreement, France had troops stationed in Germany, but this will be the first time the Germans reciprocate by basing personnel in France.