The US-led military in Afghanistan has kicked off a new operation to hunt Taliban militants in their winter stronghold and force them to accept an Afghan government reconciliation offer, a US military spokesman said Saturday.

The operation, dubbed ’’Lightening Freedom" and involving the entire 18,000 strong US-led force, began after President Hamid Karzai was sworn in Tuesday as the country’s first ever elected head of state, M^jor Mark McCann told reporters at a regular news briefing in Kabul.

McCann said the US military aimed to hunt down hardcore Islamic militants and pressure more moderate Taliban members to accept an arms-for-amnesty offer from the government.

"The first thing obviously is to facilitate the entire reconciliation process to get these folks to come to the realisation that it is better to become part of the peaceful process than not," he said.