Uzbin Valley ambush
2008 CE.
Shown on the map at 34.659°, 69.849°.
French International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops were ambushed by Afghan Taliban insurgents, with heavy casualties, in the Uzbin Valley outside the village of Spēṟ Kunday in the Surobi District of Kabul province in eastern Afghanistan on 18 August 2008. In the ambush and subsequent counter-attack operations involving reinforcements, 10 French soldiers were killed, as well as the Afghan interpreter; 21 French soldiers and 2 to 4 Afghan soldiers were wounded, and 20 to 40 civilians also lost their lives. The casualties for the French army were the highest single-day loss since the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings, which killed 58 French soldiers. Reports in France as well as a NATO one about the incident summarised that the surviving members of the initial coalition forces were "lucky to escape," arguing that they were not adequately supplied and equipped for the ambush and lacked preparation, while facing a planned attack by a well-prepared enemy.
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