In early 2009, French forces embarked on a significant campaign which aimed to retake an eastern Alasay District that the Taliban has controlled for the previous year. Alasay district is a strategic goldmine: it lies along a primary infiltration route into and out of Pakistan, it provides easy access to Kabul in an easily defensible primary valley (there are two other valleys in Alasay District), and it is mostly populated by the ethnic minority the Pashai and some Nuristani. In a French-led NATO force initiated, the operation was a success initially, due to reaching out to locals beforehand, they retook the entire valley with a single casualty over a single day of fighting. Almost immediately, the Afghans of the valley welcomed the French, and things seemed to be looking up. However, they didn't stay. Much as in previous efforts to "sweep" the province, the French were dragged into other tasks, like protecting the main highway that travels the province from north to south through the volatile Tagab Valley. As a result, Alasay fell back to Taliban later that year and the security situation in the province deteriorated. It was that same tug-of-war all over again, with the residents of Alasay left frustrated and less safe than ever before. As 2009 progressed, bigger and bigger chunks of the province came under the sway of the insurgency, leading the provincial capital being more or less under curfew from the militants. By 2010, the French had stopped liaising with their Afghan Army counterparts, and the Provincial Reconstruction Team had ceased most of its operations.