07:48 GMT, February 9, 2010 People should be prepared for British casualties resulting from the upcoming major offensive in Helmand province, Operation MOSHTARAK, which will involve thousands of ISAF troops clearing parts of central Helmand of insurgents, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth has said.

While minor operations involving British troops as part of the initial 'shaping' phase of Operation MOSHTARAK have been taking place, the major 'clearing' phase of the operation is yet to begin.

This phase will be carried out by 15,000 Afghan National Security Forces and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops (including those from the US, the UK, Denmark and Estonia) working in partnership - the word 'moshtarak' is Dari for 'together'.

The operation will extend the authority and influence of the Afghan Government in central Helmand, removing the largest remaining safe havens in the area for the Taliban, insurgents and narco-criminals. It will improve freedom of movement along key transport arteries, critical to the local economy.

The fact that coalition forces are preparing to move into the area en masse has been well publicised in the hope that local Afghans will be prepared and that less-committed insurgents may choose not to fight, thereby reducing bloodshed.

Those who choose to stay and fight have been promised that they will be met with 'overwhelming force'.

The operation is planned to be as least aggressive as possible, however resistance is expected, and, speaking to the media this weekend, Mr Ainsworth said that in any operation of this kind the risk of casualties cannot be completely removed: "Of course casualties are something that we have to expect when we are involved in these operations, and people have had that brought home to them," he said.

"This is not in any way a safe environment and it doesn't matter how much kit and equipment we provide for people, we can never entirely make these operations risk-free.

"But they are well planned and there is good provision and we can only hope for success for our people in bringing that relief for the Afghan people and the Afghan countryside.

"People will do everything they can to minimise casualties and it is at the forefront of the minds of the people that plan all of our operations.

"But we shouldn't deny ... casualties are a very real risk on these types of operations and people have to be prepared for that."

Also speaking over the weekend to the media, Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield, Spokesman for Task Force Helmand, explained the strategy behind the operation and its progress: "It's built around the construct that General McChrystal described as 'shake, clear, hold and build', he said.

"And we are very much in what the military refers to as the 'shaping' phase.

"That is the building up of forces and the conducting on the ground of minor operations in order to either attrite leaders and such like of the Taliban and also to get ourselves prepared for the 'clear' phase which is when major military operations will take place to remove the Taliban insurgents from the population in central Helmand.

"It's very much an operation that's been planned from the end backwards because the purpose of this operation is to make sure that we can hold the ground and the people once we've driven the insurgents from the area.

"This is an operation that's been planned very much in conjunction from the top down in terms of the political side, both with our district governors and provincial governors here right up to Kabul, so that all aspects of the political context are right to establish governance at the end of it and also, of course, with the Afghan National Security Forces, the Afghan Army and Afghan Police."

Immediate stabilisation activities will follow on as soon as possible after the 'clearing' phase of the operation is completed such as 'Cash for Work' programmes which will employ local people in clearing irrigation canals or refurbishing bazaars.

As part of the longer term stabilisation the Afghan Government has developed its first ever District Delivery Plan, engaging national, provincial and local level government officials in planning, for delivery of key services at local level, as the security situation allows.

The Afghan Government has made clear it will welcome those fighters who want to stop fighting and reintegrate peacefully into Afghan society.