[1] Sixteen months before the operation, the Uzbin Valley ambush, on August 18, 2008, by the Taliban in the area of Surobi, Afghanistan, had killed ten French soldiers and wounded twenty-one.
[2][4] The operation's purpose was "reaffirming the sovereignty of Afghan security forces in the north of the Uzbeen [sic] Valley", according to a French military spokesperson,[4] as well as to plant the Afghan flag in what was called a key strategic village.[which?
[4] The Taliban fighters attacked with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and heavy machine gun fire; for the coalition forces, the French troops used shells,[clarification needed] backed up by French Tigre and US Apache helicopters[5] and fighter jets.
[4] At least one Taliban fighter was killed and three were injured, according to Lieutenant-Colonel Hervé Wallerand, who led the operation.
[9] For this reason the operation was preceded by "weeks of negotiations with local villagers", according to the BBC News.