[1] Built up over the years by migratory bird-seeking Arabs, it is an isolated airstrip in the middle of the Afghan Registan desert.

Within the facility there were numerous new warehouses, offices, and even a small mosque which was declared off limits to all personnel as a sign of respect.

At its peak, the camp contained about 1100 U.S. Marines, under command of Brigadier General James Mattis, as well as U.S. soldiers and U.S. Navy Seabees, Australia Special Air Service Regiment (SASR), and dozens of embedded reporters.

But then the Taliban, realizing that U.S. forces were now very close and were willing to operate at night, capitulated and retreated north to the mountains of Tora Bora.

A Light Armored Reconnaissance Element of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and coalition forces, supported by 26th MEU, deployed forward to capture the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar International Airport in mid-December 2001, following a three-week period of consolidation at Rhino.