Operation Mongoose (2003)

Operation Mongoose
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
Date 27[1] or 28[2] January – 10 or 11 February 2003 (possibly longer) (two weeks)[3] Location Adi Ghar Mountains, Spin Boldak District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan Result ISAF/Afghan victory Over 75 caves cleared
Belligerents
ISAF  United States  Norway Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan	Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin Taliban al-Qaeda
Commanders and leaders
Lt. Col. Charlie Flynn	Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Units involved
United States Armed Forces Special Forces 82nd Airborne Division 307th Engineer Battalion 504th Infantry Regiment 2nd Battalion 505th Infantry Regiment US Air Force RNoAF[4][5]	Insurgent militias
Strength
300-350 soldiers[6][7] Militia fighters B-1 bombers AC-130 Spectre gunships AH-64 Apache attack helicopters CH-47 Chinook helicopters F-16s[8]	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.