However, Napoleon achieved his strategic surprise, because of a certain reticence on the part of the Coalition allies : the Prussians and British had not declared war on France, just on Napoleon personally ( a subtle, but important difference ) and they therefore refrained from conducting cavalry reconnaissances across the French border.
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Interviewed at Bagram Air Base, nerve-center of the 18, 000-strong force he helps command, Olson said this week that his immediate goals were preventing insurgents from mounting a " strategic surprise " with an attack on President-elect Hamid Karzai's Dec . 7 inauguration, and keeping them on the defensive ahead of April parliamentary elections.
