A NATO soldier takes position near Kabul, Afghanistan. A U.S.-led force of NATO and Afghan troops is expected to launch an offensive in Kandahar province later this year. (Associated Press)

Officials in Kandahar province have begun humanitarian preparations in advance of fighting later this year, when NATO forces are expected to launch their most ambitious assault on Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan since 2001.

Kandahar's governor, Tooryalai Wesa, said officials are stockpiling tents, medical supplies and food as he expects as many as 10,000 people may have to flee their homes when the fighting starts.

NATO and Afghan forces are entering their third week of fighting in nearby Helmand province, with 15,000 troops engaged in battle in an effort to reclaim the insurgent-held town of Marjah and the district of Nad Ali.

More than 2,800 families — averaging about five members each — have been displaced before and during the fighting, according to the Afghan Organization of Human Rights and Environmental Protection, an independent group.

'Canadians are going to be in the thick of it'

But the long-expected assault on Kandahar province, and in particular Kandahar city, is expected to be a more ambitious and difficult fight and could see more Afghan civilians on the move.

As with the offensive on Helmand province, no precise timetable has been given for the offensive in Kandahar province, but a senior administration official with U.S. President Barack Obama's administration told Reuters Friday the aim will be to seize Kandahar city by the end of this year.

Canadian Brig.-Gen. Craig King said Canada's 2,800 soldiers in Kandahar will be on the front lines in the operation.

"The Canadians are going to be in the thick of it," King said.

The U.S. has also taken the rare move of putting four of its units under the Canadian Joint Command in Kandahar.

Menard won't rule out air strikes

The top military commander in Kandahar, Brig.-Gen. Daniel Menard, wouldn't rule out air strikes in the Kandahar offensive, despite criticism Afghan officials have directed at NATO for civilian deaths during the Helmand offensive.

"I'm not prepared to tell you that air would not be used," Menard said. "But ... it cannot be the sole fire power that will be used," he said.

King said Kandahar presents unique challenges, because it is much more populated than Helmand and insurgents are not concentrated in a few key locales.

He said his role in the planning stage was to provide a rough outline of the operation for other commanders to refine.

"I take the block of marble and hew out the thing and get it to a point, and then there's some fine chiseling and then the polishing is done by someone else," he said.

With files from The Canadian Press