War of Afghanistan: Uzbin Valley ambush occurs.
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 of the Surobi District of Kabul province in eastern Afghanistan on 18 August 2008.
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.