Nicholson, commander of the 4,000 Marines deployed on Thursday in the mainly Taliban-held Helmand River valley, headed to Garmsir district centre to visit a bazaar selling fruit, vegetables and meat.

The day after launching Operation Khanjar -- intended to establish international and Afghan government control in the region -- he was keen to show how the Marines must interact with locals to defeat the insurgents.

"I need a good price," he said with a big grin as he held up a green watermelon. "50 afghani (one dollar)? Am I over-paying? No tourist prices for me, please."

Once the bargaining was over, he asked the stallowner about security in the mud-wall streets just outside a small international military base called Camp Delhi.

"It is good now," the heavily bearded man said. "But one year ago, there was a lot of fighting here between troops and the Taliban. Our shops and homes were destroyed and we have had no help rebuilding them."

Nicholson, who deliberately took off his helmet and sunglasses when talking to local residents, nodded and explained why the Marines had arrived in the Helmand valley.

"We are here to provide security for you and to help you," he said. "We have been sent by the president and district governor, and we are only here until there are enough Afghan police and soldiers to take over security.

"If there is peace in Garmsir, it is because everyone is working towards it. The Marines or the police cannot do it themselves. We need the help of local people."

For more than an hour, Nicholson -- protected by a guard of 11 alert and armed Marines -- walked from stall to stall holding much the same conversation to get his message across.

"What is the one thing Garmsir needs?" he asked five men sitting on a carpet drinking tea.

"We need peace and we need better mobile telephone coverage," one of them replied.

"We need the troops to stop blocking roads with their vehicles," said another.

Nicholson stressed that it was Marines who pushed the Taliban out of these streets a year ago.

"You remember that? We gave you the city back. Now we have returned and want to work as partners for the future."

The Camp Delhi area was fought over by the Taliban and NATO-lead British troops until a short-term contingent of US Marines last year established a secure zone that has become a model for the new wave of reinforcements.

Nicholson also faced questions about US forces killing innocent civilians by mistake, and he said he realised the damage that such incidents could do to the international effort in Afghanistan.

"Any Marine who shoots improperly will not stay here. We have been sent here to make things safer, not to frighten people," he said.

"We are not perfect and sometimes can make mistakes but we will go out of our way to help the citizens of Garmsir."

Control of the relatively fertile Helmand River valley is key as it is where much of the opium that funds the insurgency is grown.

The US troops who have pushed south down the valley since Thursday have begun to open communication channels with local elders, the military said, but a Taliban fightback is expected.

Some people in the bazaar turned away from the brigadier general, but most appeared willing to listen to his argument that their future would be better under the government than under the Taliban.

Virtually all the men said they would vote in August 20 presidential elections, adding they were already registered. A few election posters were stuck onto the market's crumbling walls.

Some residents complained about the Afghan police, who are generally less respected than the Afghan army, and others complained they had never seen the provincial governor.

With one more melon bought and after a jokey discussion with a tailor about how many wives a man should have, the patrol headed back to Camp Delhi.

"Sometimes they just say the things we want to hear, but there was a lot I heard that was honest and useful," Nicholson told his men at their debrief.

"When I go to meetings in the next few days, now I can tell people what I found out by walking the streets of Garmsir."

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