[clarification needed][4] The Taliban had maintained a presence in the Gizab area since late 2007 as it is a strategic crossroads for insurgents coming from Pakistan and traveling to the contested provinces of Kandahar and Helmand.

During a 2007 press conference, Mohammed Hashim Watanwal, a Wolesi Jirga representative, asserted that anti-government elements controlled all of Gizab district.

Once on the ground, the allied soldiers gave the citizens pieces of reflective orange cloth to tie around their rifles to tell the difference between friend and enemy.

However, this revolt has been seen by many as more than an isolated case of dissatisfaction, and has become a rallying point for many in the military who claim that the insurgency is finally weakening, even being called "perhaps the most important thing that has happened in southern Afghanistan this year" by an unnamed U.S.

Gen. Austin S. Miller, the top U.S. Special Operations Commander in Afghanistan was quoted as saying, "The Taliban thought this place was untouchable, and what the people here showed them -- and everyone else -- was that they could stand up and break free from that grip."

Since the revolt, U.S. military commanders have been sorting through the pattern of events in Gizab in order to replicate them in many more villages angered by the Taliban presence.