"The Taliban just walk into our homes and demand food and money," said one village elder speaking through an interpreter employed by the US military.

"They close schools and we can't disobey them as they will torture and kill us. We support what the US troops are doing but they point their guns at our children, who cannot go outside to play."

The man said he wanted to vote in the elections but that registration cards had not arrived at his mud-walled village in the Garmsir district of Helmand.