page_title: 11th Parachute Brigade (France)
section_title: Afghanistan
hierarchical_section_title: 11th Parachute Brigade (France) / 11th Parachute Brigade – 11e BP / Afghanistan
caption_attribution_description: English: VBL (armoured light vehicle) of the French 1st Airborne Hussars Regiment in Afghanistan. Français&#160;: VBL du 1er Régiment de Hussards Parachutistes en Afghanistan.
context_page_description: The 11th Parachute Brigade is a unit of the French Army, dominantly infantry, part of the French Airborne Units and specialized in air combat and air assault. The brigade's primary vocation is to project in emergency in order to contribute a first response to a situational crisis. An elite unit of the French Army, the brigade is commanded by a général de brigade with headquarters in Balma near Toulouse. The brigade's soldiers and airborne Marines wear the red beret except for the Legionnaires of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment who wear green beret of the French Foreign Legion.
  The 11th Parachute Brigade originally the 11th Light Intervention Division was created from airborne units contingents of the 10th Parachute Division 10ᵉ D.P and 25th Parachute Division 25ᵉ D.P of France, both dissolved following the Algiers putsch of 1961 during the Algerian War.
context_section_description: From 2006 to 2007, the parachute brigade intervened in Afghanistan as part of the French Detachment of NATO's International Force. In September 2007, the brigade was relieved by Chasseurs Alpins of the 27th Mountain Infantry Brigade (27ᵉ BIM).
  On 18 August 2008, a unit of the 8th Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment (8ᵉ RPMIa) lost eight men during the Uzbin Ambush.
  The paratroopers of the 1st Parachute Chasseur Regiment (1ᵉʳ RCP), of the 11th Parachute Brigade, took up its first rotation, and was in place by Sunday, 1 May 2011, in Kapisa Province. Four more rotations would follow. A total of 650 military personnel were scheduled for a mission to maintain zonal security.
  On 10 May 2011, two combat parachute companies of the 1ᵉ RCP—almost 200 men commanded by général Emmanuel Maurin, commander of the 11th Parachute Brigade—were projected east towards Nijrab District, on a mission lasting several months. As a result, 1000 paratroopers were engaged in Afghanistan, principally from the 1ᵉ RCP, which were supported by the 11th Parachute Brigade, the 1st Parachute Hussar Regiment, the 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment, 35th Parachute Artillery Regiment, and the 1st Train Parachute Regiment.
  From April to October 2001, while preparing for this mission, the 11th brigade rehearsed realistic simulations, in order to achieve operational readiness within the newly established Brigade La Fayette joint command. In Afghanistan, reinforcements served for periods from 6 months to a year in Nijrab District, in northeastern Kapisa Province, while attached to the Tactical Interam Group of Kapisa (TIGK).
  As of June 20, 2011, the 11th Parachute Brigade was the brigade that endured the most losses, with 18 casualties, in Afghanistan.
caption: A light armored vehicle of the 1er Régiment de Hussards Parachutistes in 2006 in Afghanistan.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D100", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "90", "Image YResolution": "90", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2009:06:25 13:47:49", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "276", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "994", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7013", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/400", "EXIF FNumber": "11", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:02:11 08:14:12", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:02:11 08:14:12", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "1/3", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "41/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Fine weather", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "55", "EXIF SubSecTime": "80", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "80", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "80", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "800", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "534", "EXIF RelatedSoundFile": "", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 1, 0, 2, 1]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "82", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}