Operation Mongoose | |||||||
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Part of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) (Operation Enduring Freedom) | |||||||
![]() ![]() Top: AH-64 Apache attack helicopter called in to destroy a suspected Taliban weapons cache Bottom: Soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division on a search and destroy mission in the Adi Ghar Mountains | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Lt. Col. Charlie Flynn | Gulbuddin Hekmatyar | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
![]() | Insurgent militias | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
![]() ![]() ![]() AC-130 Spectre gunships AH-64 Apache attack helicopters CH-47 Chinook helicopters ![]() | 80 fighters (coalition estimate)[9][10] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
None |
22 killed, 13 captured (per coalition)[11] 18 reported killed during the Battle in the Adi Ghar Mountains[12][9] |
Operation Mongoose was an American-led two week cave clearing operation in the Adi Ghar Mountains near the town of Spin Boldak in Kandahar Province. Launched on the 28 January 2003, over 350 US and coalition soldiers along with Afghan militia fighters, assisted by Apache helicopters and Norwegian F-16 fighter jets[7] participated with the objective of searching through and destroying caves used by Hezb-e Islami, Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives.[3][8][7] By the end of the operation, over 75 caves had been cleared.