Thousands of US soldiers in Afghanistan have started a military operation in a bid to provide security for the country's presidential election scheduled for Oct.9, a Pentagon official said in Washington Tuesday.

Demanding anonymity, the official said, "The purpose of the operation is to ensure the security of the electoral process."

The US troops are seeking to "set conditions that are favorable to continuing voter registration" and to protect actual balloting itself, the official added.

More than 6.3 million out of an estimated electorate of nearly 10 million have reportedly registered to vote in the Afghan presidential elections.

The guerrillas of the Taliban, overthrown by a US-led war launched one month after Sept. 11, 2001, have threatened to disrupt the elections.

Source: Xinhua