"They're starting right now. They're going to go hot pretty quick," said the official, who asked not to be named.

"They're coming here so we can have some search forces to clean up these areas in the south."

The Marines, who have been deploying to Afghanistan since last month to boost the already 13,500-strong US-led military coalition, were being deployed around the capital and central Uruzban province Tarin Kowt and Kandahar, the main southern province.

Both areas are strongholds of fighters loyal to the former Taliban rulers, who have been killing aid workers, Afghan officials and US troops in relentless ambushes and bomb attacks for over a year.

The commander of US forces in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General David Barno, would not comment on the Marine operations.

"Their role in areas where we employ them will involve rooting out not only remnants of Al-Qaeda and Taliban which we find in those areas, but working more closely with the local population," Barno told reporters travelling with the US military's top commander General Richard Myers.

Myers is in Kabul on a one-day visit to discuss the bin Laden hunt with commanders of the 11,500 US troops plus the newly-deployed 2,000 Marines.

WAR.WIRE