After US intelligence services discovered in 2011 that senior Taliban leader Qari Tahir was possibly in Tangi Valley, Wardak province, Afghanistan, local US forces launched a mission to apprehend or kill him.[1] At 10:37 (local time) on the night of 5 August, a platoon of 47 U.S. Army Rangers left at forward operating base in Logar Province via two CH-47D transport helicopters, one of which would later be involved in the accident.[2][3][11] After a twenty-minute flight (around 11pm), the two Chinook helicopters landed near the compound ostensibly containing Tahir, offloaded the Ranger platoon, and returned to base.[11]