The New York Times is describing this week’s attacks by the Taliban in Afghanistan as the most serious in six years of fighting. On Tuesday, ten French paratroopers were killed following a Taliban ambush, and one of the largest US military bases, Camp Salerno, came under a coordinated assault by at least ten suicide bombers. The attack on the French was the deadliest ground battle involving international troops since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Earlier today, French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Kabul and vowed that France would still go ahead with plans to send 700 additional troops to Afghanistan this month.