Details emerge on circumstances, mistakes in deadly Afghanistan ambush

Le Monde has finally unearthed details about the August 18 ambush that killed 10 French paratroopers in Afghanistan — the most deadly attack on NATO troops since the war began.

The soldiers, belonging to the 8th and 2nd paratrooper divisions, were ambushed while investigating the safety and navigability of a road ahead of motorized elements about 30 miles east of Kabul. As they climbed a mountain pass, Taliban militants opened fire instantly wounding the commanding officer, which “contributed to the disorganization” that followed.

While the official version said that all 10 French soldiers were killed in the initial burst of fire, surviving soldiers said their compatriots were killed throughout a six-hour firefight — the first four hours of which they fought isolated without reinforcements.

The ambush caught the soldiers totally by surprise. So much so they were materially unprepared for major fighting.

“We had nothing to defend ourselves other than our FAMAS [assault rifles],” a wounded soldier told Le Monde.

Furthermore, the close air support that was intended to allow them to disengage instead missed its target and wounded their own men. The unit then lost radio communation with the nearby ground regiment understandably creating “great frustration for the pinned down soldiers.”

In the end the wounded soldiers questioned the wisdom of the mission altogether.

“It took almost three hours to get to the site, enough time for the militants to be warned of our arrival.”

When the militants did attack they found an isolated and lightly armed reconnaissance team, backed up by an extremely poorly managed support response.

The ambush took place in Kapisa, one of the regions the French military has taken over in the extension of its responsibilities in Afghanistan agreed to by President Sarkozy this spring in Bucharest. The nation’s military involvement in Afghanistan is widely unpopular at home, and this incident will likely worsen the public’s sentiment of the overall conflict.