 As president of the Committee on Foreign Affairs Flandin warned Aristide Briand in September 1916 that, "Our enemies could not find a subject more likely to overexcite Muslim fanaticism.In 1917 Flandin criticized conscription of Algerian troops, since it thought it wrong to force the indigenous people to accept French practices and ideals.He thought it would be better to use a militia system based on local tribal organization, so the "indigène" could "evolve not in our civilization, but in his own."