Exercise Saif Sareea II was a major military exercise in September and October 2001 involving the military of the United Kingdom and Oman. It was the largest single deployment of UK forces since the Gulf War. Over 22,500 personnel, 6,500 vehicles, 21 naval vessels, 49 fixed wing aircraft and 44 helicopters were deployed. The presence of such a large military force in the Middle East gave United Kingdom and United States commanders important assets for conducting the war against the Taliban government in Afghanistan, the UK contribution to which was known as Operation Veritas.