Six hours with nothing but their sidearms
The operation conducted by the opfors 60km east of Kabul targeted a the French unit deployed as the advance guard of a convoy consisting of Afghan troops and US Special Forces that were in route to an area abandoned to the opfors between Kabul and Kapisa. The survivors interviews are inconsistent with command's narrative -- the later has all the KIAs in the initial phase of the ambush, the former has members of the unit, dismounted and 50 meters from the pass they were approaching to recon, pinned down by highly effective small arms fire for six hours until darkness allowed them to self-extricate. There was no air support until three hours after the opfors initiated the operation, no support from the Afghan or US forces in the convoy, and no rotary wing mounted rapid response resources available to the convoy. The wounded were recovered around 2am, and the opfor casualties are reported to be much lower than the IASF casualties.
I recommend (again) the works of Eric Margolis, who write for the Toronto Sun.
