Operation Desert Lion began on 27 March 2003. Troops from the U.S. 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment and 82nd Airborne Division launched the operation in the Kohe Safi Mountains and surrounding areas in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan near Bagram Air Base. Their mission was to hunt for supplies and members of the Taliban and Al-Qaida. Troops kicked off Operation Desert Lion with an air assault from Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters. The soldiers found two caches of weapons that included 107mm rockets, mortar rounds, recoilless rocket rounds and cases of machine-gun ammunition just five kilometers from the air base. Disposal experts blew up the caches in place.