KABUL, July 22 (AFP) - The US military said Thursday it was wrapping up a five-month operation to improve security in the insurgency-hit central Afghan province of Uruzgan ahead of elections, describing the campaign as "extremely successful."
"We had decisive combat success -- we`re particularly proud of our work with voter registration," Colonel Frank McKenzie, commander of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit told reporters in Kabul.
"We began our voter registration efforts on the first of May in an area that has long been denied voter registration efforts."
Taliban-led militants, fighting the US-led coalition force have vowed to carry out attacks in a bid to disrupt Afghanistan`s presidential elections scheduled for October 9.
Sixteen returning refugees were slain in a bloody attack by suspected Taliban in the province in late June apparently for carrying voter registration cards.
There have been a string of attacks on aid and electoral workers, government officials and civilians, aimed at sowing fear and disrupting the vote.
McKenzie said 2,000 marines who had been deployed in March to the province, a hotbed of Taliban-led insurgency, were being pulled out and replaced by two fresh battalions of some 600 troops each.
Over 58,000 voters were registered in the Uruzgan as of July 15, McKenzie said.
Parliamentary elections have been delayed until the first half of 2005 to allow the government time to disarm regional militias and quell insurgency.
McKenzie warned that despite the presence of the US-led troops the threat from Taliban insurgents remained significant in the Pashtun-dominated province, the birthplace of fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
"We believe that Uruzgan province located in central Afghanistan has been the Taliban backyard for a long time," he said.
"I think the anti-coalition forces are gonna do their best to disrupt the elections."
However he believed the marines` operation helped disrupt the Taliban sanctuary.
At least one US marine was killed in operations while another 11 were injured during combat with militants.
Two other US marines were killed in gun-battles with suspected Taliban in northeastern Kunar province on June 24.
Over 20,000 coalition troops under the leadership of the United States are in Afghanistan to hunt down Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants who are opposed to President Hamid Karzai`s US-backed administration.