Afghan police moved Friday to establish a presence in the Taliban stronghold at the centre of a US-led offensive that is testing President Barack Obama's war strategy.
On the seventh day of the assault against militants in the southern province of Helmand an Afghan general claimed Taliban resistance was slowing progress into the Marjah and Nad Ali areas.
After a warning against "triumphalism" by NATO's commander in southern Afghanistan, Major General Nick Carter, the alliance nonetheless described the situation as "positive". Concealed mines remained a huge threat however, along with Taliban snipers.
A NATO soldier was killed by gunfire while taking part in Operation Mushtarak (Together) on Friday, bringing to 12 the total number killed in the offensive, the NATO-run International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said, withholding the soldier's nationality.
The offensive, billed as one of the biggest since the 2001 US-led invasion, aims to clear the Taliban from one of their last bastions and allow the government to re-establish control and build civilian services.
Carter said this week the combined force of 15,000 US, NATO and Afghan troops would need another 25 to 30 days to secure the Taliban stronghold, which measures around 200 square kilometres (80 square miles).
General Mohaidin Ghori, commander of the 4,400 Afghan troops taking part, said progress was slow but added: "We are not in a hurry."
"I want to hold the area that I've taken. I don't want the civilians to get hurt. My mission is to separate the people from the enemy," he told AFP.
A 400-man brigade of specially trained Afghan police had left an army base headed for Marjah, the first step in establishing civilian control, he said.
Accompanied by about 80 US Marines, the heavily armed convoy was due to arrive on Saturday and make a base in the centre of the township.
Officials said the police, drilled to spurn the corruption that has brought scorn on their comrades elsewhere, would take over security in areas already cleared of Taliban fighters and booby traps.
Afghan commanders and NATO said resistance was confined to pockets within the target area, an agricultural plain that is the source of most of the world's opium.
Afghan government claim Taliban resistance waning
Ghori claimed resistance seemed to be waning, possibly suggesting the militants were running short of ammunition and men.
Obama has ordered more than 50,000 extra troops into Afghanistan since taking office. Fresh pledges from NATO allies will raise to 150,000 the overall number of foreign troops by August.
In a battlefield assessment, NATO said most of the resistance was in Marjah, and improvised explosive devises, or IEDs, were the main threat.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was almost impossible for people wounded in fighting and crossfire to leave for treatment in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah because roads were heavily mined.
"The 40-kilometre (25-mile) road between Marjah and Lashkah Gah is littered with... IEDs and is closed to traffic," it said. "Alternative routes exist but they are also contaminated with IEDs and require long detours."
The Afghan Rights Monitor (ARM) said Marjah residents were being told by mullahs using the public address systems of mosques and by militants to remain indoors.
"This means that people who need medical treatment cannot go to hospital and people cannot bring them needed medicines or food," said Ajmal Samadi, head of the rights monitoring group.
Thousands of people have fled for Lashkar Gah and neighbouring provinces including Nimroz, where the UN's World Food Programme has been handing out food.
Separately, President Hamid Karzai's rival at elections last year, Abdullah Abdullah, announced the launch of a new coalition to fight in parliamentary elections in September and try to devolve power in the country.
"This movement... will be hopefully a new chapter in political life in Afghanistan," Abdullah said on a visit to Paris. "So far the importance of political parties and political movements have been ignored, or obstacles were created."
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