Afghan and coalition forces conducted a major clearing operation Jan. 10 in the Arghandab river valley near Kandahar, Afghanistan. The objective of Operation Fazilat was to attack the Taliban's improvised explosive device capabilities and establish a permanent coalition presence in a section of the valley.

Afghan Soldiers in armored humvees led a combined convoy of Afghans and Americans down Highway 1 in the early morning. As dawn broke they passed an Afghan national police checkpoint and dismounted by an ANA combat outpost. Their objective was Shah Hasan Kheyl, a village about a kilometer off the road. Starting in August 2009, small embedded training teams dispersed throughout Afghanistan started getting replaced with combat units from 4th Brigade Combat Team (Task Force Fury), 82nd Airborne Division to serve as combat advisors.