Uzbin valley ambush

The Uzbin Valley ambush occurred when ISAF troops were ambushed by Afghan militants in eastern Afghanistan on 18 August 2008. It took place outside the village of Spēṟ Kunday, of the Surobi District of Kabul province and resulted in heavy casualties to the French ISAF contingent. A NATO report of the incident summarised that the surviving members of the Coalition forces were "lucky to escape" arguing that they were poorly equipped, ill-organised ... more

The Uzbin Valley ambush occurred when ISAF troops were ambushed by Afghan militants in eastern Afghanistan on 18 August 2008. It took place outside the village of Spēṟ Kunday, of the Surobi District of Kabul province and resulted in heavy casualties to the French ISAF contingent. A NATO report of the incident summarised that the surviving members of the Coalition forces were "lucky to escape" arguing that they were poorly equipped, ill-organised and faced a well-prepared enemy. However, this version was denied by the French government. Later reports claimed that until then the relative calm of the region had only been obtained by bribery, of which the French were unaware. The sector of Surobi was under French control between 2006 and 2007. At the time, French troops crossed the 35th parallel only once, as the region beyond was considered to be dangerous. Then and until August 2008, responsibility of the Surobi district switched to 140 Italian troops who had undertaken development... less