U. S. military officials have said that operations to clear insurgents from the southern Afghan province of Helmand are a credit to international military cooperation.

U. S. and international forces descend on the agricultural district of Marja in Helmand province earlier this year to clear insurgents from their southern strongholds.

It has been reported that a 152-page Defense Department report to the U. S. Congress in April said the overall security situation in Afghanistan has stabilized "somewhat," though violence was still high.

The report said, "However, some individual islands of security exist in the sea of instability and insecurity."

The operations there were a success, David Sedney, the U. S. deputy assistant defense secretary for Central Asia, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Sedney said, "The Marja operations have been exemplary for its level of cooperation. This is the biggest civilian-military operation ever."

Corruption in the ranks of Afghan security forces remains problematic but stressed that any insurgent support was based primarily on monetary decisions, U. S. Army Brig. Gen. John Nicholson, director Pakistani and Afghan efforts of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said.

He further said that reintegration, meanwhile, was an "attainable" goal for many fighters creating instability in Afghanistan.

It was also noted by the report that Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who arrives Wednesday in Washington, is expected to highlight a reconciliation plan for insurgents during his visit. (With Inputs from Agencies)