The United States said Thursday that it expected the six-month-old NATO military mission in Libya to start winding down after the death of ousted strongman Moamer Kadhafi.

"I think it's pretty clear that the end's in sight," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said of the mission.

"Certainly we've reached a turning point," Toner told reporters. "I think NATO will be assessing the future of the mission in the coming days."

But Toner acknowledged that Libya still faced "significant challenges" and said that decisions needed consensus within the 20-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

"I think they're going to assess, moving forward, very carefully whether there's not any diehard or continuing resistance among Kadhafi's followers," Toner said.

Alliance officials earlier told AFP in Brussels that NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Admiral James Stavridis, would make a recommendation as soon as Friday to end so-called Operation Unified Protector.

It was the first NATO operation in which the United States has not taken the clear lead, with European nations, particularly France and Britain, spearheading the military mission.

Since taking over air and sea operations on March 31, NATO has launched 9,618 strike sorties in the mission to prevent Kadhafi from crushing a rebellion that erupted in February.