US begin major anti-Taliban sweep

Thousands of US Marines and hundreds of Afghan troops poured into villages of southern Afghanistan with armour and helicopters today in the first major operation under President Barack Obama's strategy to stabilise the country.

The offensive was launched shortly after 1am today local time in Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold and the world's largest opium poppy-producing area.

The goal is to clear insurgents from the hotly-contested region before the nation's August 20 presidential election.

Officials described the operation, dubbed Khanjar, or Strike of the Sword, as the largest and fastest-moving of the war's new phase, involving nearly 4,000 of the newly-arrived Marines and 650 Afghan forces.

British forces last week led similar, but smaller, missions to clear out insurgents in Helmand and neighbouring Kandahar provinces.

"Where we go we will stay, and where we stay, we will hold, build and work toward transition of all security responsibilities to Afghan forces," Marine Corps Brigadier General Larry Nicholson said in a statement.

Transport helicopters carried hundreds of Marines into the village of Nawa, some 20 miles south of the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, in a region where no US or other Nato troops have operated in large numbers.

Daybreak brought the sporadic crackle of gunfire, but no heavy fighting immediately broke out. Medical helicopters circled overhead and landed, indicating possible early casualties among the Marines.

A roadside bomb early in the mission wounded one Marine, but he was able to continue, spokesman Captain Bill Pelletier said.

Southern Afghanistan is a Taliban stronghold but also a region where Afghan President Hamid Karzai is seeking votes from fellow Pashtun tribesmen.

The Pentagon is deploying 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in time for the elections and expects the total number of US forces there to reach 68,000 by year's end.

That is double the number of troops in Afghanistan in 2008, but still half of much as are now in Iraq.

The Taliban, who took control of Afghanistan in 1996 and were ousted from power following a US-led invasion in 2001, have made a violent comeback, wreaking havoc in much of the country's south and east, forcing the United States to pour in the new troops.

Capt Pelletier said troops in today's operation were sent in by a mixture of aircraft and ground transport under the cover of darkness.

The operation aims to show "the Afghan people that when we come in we are going to stay long enough to set up their own institutions", Capt Pelletier said.

Once on the ground, the troops will meet with local leaders, hear their needs, and act on them, Capt Pelletier said.

"We do not want people of Helmand province to see us as an enemy, we want to protect them from the enemy," Capt Pelletier said.

"We are kind of forging new ground here. We are going to a place nobody has been before," said Captain Drew Schoenmaker, 31, from Greene, New York, who commands Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.