The likely deployment follows a rise in violent attacks by insurgents around Kunduz and elsewhere in regional command north, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

German media have reported about 2,500 US troops would head north, including about 1,000 focused on training Afghan security forces.

But US and NATO commanders have yet to announce how many troops might be assigned to the north, which has been relatively calm compared to the country's east and south.

"They (the Germans) asked for additional support," said the official.

US officers were now looking "at how many troops do we really need" in the north and what types of forces would be sent, the official said.

Military officers have said they are tracking insurgent attempts to disrupt NATO supply routes into northern Afghanistan but still view the Taliban threat as primarily in the south and eastern regions.

US officials say Washington has no plans to take over regional command north from the Germans.

Germany has promised to send 500 additional troops for the troubled NATO-led mission along with a "flexible reserve" of 350 forces.

Berlin has about 4,300 troops in Afghanistan, the third largest contingent in a 110,000-strong international force after the United States and Britain.

US President Barack Obama has ordered 30,000 reinforcements to Afghanistan and allies have pledged up to 10,000 more, swelling the foreign force to about 150,000 by the end of this year.

earlier related report
US Marines under fire ahead of Afghan assault
Outskirts Of Marjah, Afghanistan (AFP) Feb 10, 2010 - US Marines came under attack from insurgents armed with sniper guns and rocket-propelled grenades as they geared up Wednesday to overwhelm a Taliban bastion in Afghanistan.

Thousands of Marines along with foreign and Afghan soldiers are taking up position around the town of Marjah in Helmand, which officials say is one of the last areas of the southern province under Taliban control.

The flow of residents fleeing the imminent offensive has slowed, provincial officials said, after loaded-down cars, trucks, tractors and buses clogged roads from Marjah to provincial capital Lashkah Gar for days.

"We have announced and told people in Marjah not to leave their houses as our operation is well planned and designed to target the enemy," said Daud Ahmadi, spokesman for Helmand Governor Mohammad Gulab Mangal.

"Civilians will not be harmed," he said. Another 75 families had left Marjah, on top of 164 families who left earlier, the spokesman said. Other officials have said more than 400 families have fled.

The operation, expected to begin in days, will be the biggest push since US President Barack Obama announced a new surge of troops to Afghanistan and one of the biggest since the 2001 US-led invasion defeated the Taliban regime.

It is seen as a key test of a comprehensive counter-insurgency strategy that aims to follow up what officials predict will be a decisive military victory by establishing Afghan government control.

But Taliban fighters appear defiant in the face of the enormous fire power being amassed in the region, where they have held sway for years in tandem with drug traffickers.

On the northeastern edge of Marjah, an AFP photographer said US Marines arrived by helicopter at a deserted junction and immediately came under sniper fire from insurgents.

The Marines encampment, reinforced with sandbags, also came under rocket fire. US Cobra helicopters were called in to attack Taliban positions, the photographer said.

The Marines searched houses and compounds for weapons and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) -- the prime Taliban killer of foreign troops -- and evacuated residents from the few homes still occupied.

NATO forces dropped leaflets on the area warning of the fight to come, to give residents and insurgents time to flee and avoid a battle, officials said.

Mark Sedwill, NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan, said the US-led alliance hoped the operation would proceed "swiftly and with as little incident as possible".

"But this very much depends on the conduct of people who are in Marjah at the moment and their choices about whether to resist or to lay down their weapons and, as the government has offered them, come over under the sovereignty of the legitimate authorities," he told reporters.

"People need to be under no illusion -- this operation is going to succeed, we are going to bring Afghan government sovereignty to this area.

"The only question is are the people who have been controlling the area going to accept that?" he said, adding that the message to residents was to "keep your heads down".

The biggest threat faced by international and Afghan forces is IEDs, with the Taliban claiming Tuesday they had developed a new bomb -- named Omar after their fugitive leader -- that cannot be detected by Western mine sweepers.

So far this year more than 60 foreign troops have died in Afghanistan, the vast majority killed by IEDs. The number of foreign troop deaths hit a record 520 last year.

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