French forces in the 27th battalion stationed in a southern France military base said Friday they were not willing to go to Afghanistan, Iran's Press TV reported Saturday.

There were 10 French soldiers killed in Afghanistan in August, in what was the deadliest ground attack on international forces since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.

Press TV also reported that 50 percent of French people oppose the deployment of thousands of troops to Afghanistan.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said at the last NATO summit in April that he would send an additional 700 French soldiers to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan, bringing the total number of French troops there to about 3,000.