French Foreign Legionnaires meet with village elders Sunday morning outside a school in Rodbar, 50 miles east of Kabul. Shortly after the Afghans left, insurgents began firing at the soldiers. Adam Ferguson for The Wall Street JournalIn Afghan Village, French Outreach Yields an Ambush -- Wall Street Journal
Troubled Effort by Legionnaires to Assess Local Allegiances in Area Near Kabul Illustrates Challenges Facing Foreign Troops
RODBAR, Afghanistan -- At 10 a.m. Sunday, a dozen ragged schoolboys, who had been milling around this village's school after a meeting between Western soldiers and local elders, melted away, followed by their white-capped headmaster. Then, 30 seconds after the last boy carried away the blackboard, the ambush began. From crevices in the craggy hills to the north, Afghan insurgents fired machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at a French Foreign Legion unit that had entered Rodbar earlier in the morning.
The ensuing firefight ended only after attack helicopters and heavy mortars pummeled the mountainsides, finally repelling the rebels beyond the ridgeline.
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