* Al Qaeda N. Africa wing tells France to leave Afghanistan
* Says withdrawal a condition for safe release of hostages
* Paris says will not be dictated to by outsiders
PARIS, Nov 19 (Reuters) - France said on Friday it would not allow outsiders to dictate its foreign policy after the head of al Qaeda's North African wing demanded in an audio recording the withdrawal of French forces from Afghanistan.
Abdelmalek Droukdel, leader of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), said in a message reported by Qatari television station Al-Jazeera that Paris should withdraw its troops if it wanted the safe release of five French nationals being held hostage by AQIM.
Droukdel also said that any negotiations over the release of the hostages, who are being held in Mali, should be carried out directly with al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
"France will not accept that its policy is dictated to from outside by anybody," newly-appointed Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said in a statement, without making a direct reference to the message.
A foreign ministry spokesman said the recording was in the process of being authenticated. The government has said that it has not received any demands from AQIM for the hostages, who were kidnapped in Niger in September.
Droukdel's comments will add to fears over the fate of the hostages after President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday he was "especially worried" about them.
CLASSIC DEMAND
Defence Minister Alain Juppe, also newly appointed in a cabinet reshuffle last weekend, described the war in Afghanistan on Wednesday as a trap for all parties involved. He said France was looking at how it could start drawing down its 3,500-strong troop presence when the time was right.
Leaders of NATO member countries are expected to discuss a calendar for handing over fighting duties to Afghan forces at a two-day summit in Lisbon starting on Friday.
Former French Defence Minister Herve Morin told France Info radio on Friday the withdrawal of troops was a classic demand, but more worrying was AQIM's unrealistic call for Paris to negotiate directly with bin Laden.
"In general, AQIM is more like a series of franchises ... we don't really have an al Qaeda holding (group) with a number of units," Morin said. "It's something we haven't experienced in previous hostage situations like this."
Bin Laden said in an audio tape aired last month that the Sept. 16 kidnapping was prompted by France's unjust treatment of Muslims and also demanded France withdraw from Afghanistan.
In July, French commandos took part in a failed operation to rescue another Frenchman kidnapped in Niger earlier in the year, Michel Germaneau.
Germaneau was killed after the attempt to free him. The French government, embarrassed by the affair, has offered few details about the status of the five other hostages or of any negotiations to free them. (Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Catherine Bremer and Susan Fenton)
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