civilian casualties . Radford estimated that there were 450 to 500 Taliban fighters in the area at the time of the operation , which he called `` one of the biggest that has taken place . '' The British gave several weeks ' warning that they were planning to attack , he said , both to exert psychological pressure on the Taliban and to give civilians a chance to flee . As a result , `` quite a few Taliban managed to get away , '' Radford said . `` They will always get away and they will always come back in . '' Mayall , the deputy chief of the British Defence Staff for Operations , said the challenge now was to convince local people that the Afghan government and its allies could protect them from the Taliban . The Taliban `` are going to assume that we are going to lose interest and move on , '' he said . But they are wrong , he said . NATO forces were going to `` stay in Afghanistan for a very long time , '' he said , adding that active NATO-led fighting should `` tail off '' as
LONDON , England -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A British-led military operation meant to clear the Taliban from parts of Afghanistan has succeeded , UK officials said Monday . A file image shows a British Royal Marine sniper team on an operation in Afghanistan . NATO and its Afghan allies launched Operation Panther 's Claw to flush the Taliban from parts of southern Helmand Province before Afghan presidential elections next month . Major fighting is mostly over , and the military will now focus on `` holding '' the areas that have been cleared of Taliban so they do not return , Lt. Gen. Simon Mayall said in a briefing . The operation 's success will enable up to 80,000 people in Helmand to vote . `` Panther 's Claw has been extremely successful , '' said Brigadier Tim Radford , the top British military commander for the operation . `` There will be many Taliban who will not be fighting any more . '' He said the Taliban suffered `` significant casualties , '' but refused to say how many . Nine British troops were killed in action in the operation , he said , and there were three Afghan