BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan -- British troops returned Tuesday from their final combat mission in Afghanistan voicing frustration that they had next to no contact with Taleban or Al-Qaeda fighters over the past three months.

A group of around 30 Royal Marine Commandos returned shortly before 11:00 A.M. (0630 GMT) to this coalition airbase marking the end of the seven-week old operation Buzzard, which was centered on the southeastern province of Khost, close to the border with Pakistan.

The British contingent, which at its peak numbered around 1,700 troops, had already begun to scale down. It is due to complete its withdrawal by the end of the month, leaving just a couple of hundred logistics staff. Spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ben Curry told reporters that Buzzard was "the last planned operation for the task force." "Although some elements of the force have returned back to the United Kingdom, (British) Task Force Jacana will maintain a combat capability for contingency operations until late July."

The troops were first deployed to Afghanistan in the aftermath of the U.S.-led operation Anaconda in eastern Paktia Province, which saw the heaviest fighting in the Afghan campaign.

While the Americans claimed to have killed hundreds of Al-Qaeda members during Anaconda, many more were thought to have slipped across the border to Pakistan.

The British had conducted four main operations since then, but have had direct contact with opposition forces on just one occasion.

"We came out here expecting combat, but it is very difficult to involve yourself in combat operations if your adversary is not there," said Curry. He added that the missions had instead evolved into counter insurgency operations to prevent opposition forces moving at will "across what is a very porous border."

Since operation Snipe which wound up in mid May, the British have been concentrating on denying Al-Qaeda and Taleban an opportunity to regain their former strongholds, blowing up arms caches and conducting ground and air patrols.

"Buzzard was always going to be a longer duration operation, a bit lower tempoed," said Curry.

Marine John Dodson who has been in Afghanistan since April said there was a sense of disappointment that there had been so little engagement with the enemy, but still maintained it was a job well done.

"In a way it's been disappointing because there is no one out there. But the job has been a success because we have denied them the ground," he told AFP as he stepped off a Chinook helicopter at Bagram. "Basically, there is no one there because of Anaconda. I guess they must also have known we were coming from their own intelligence."

Fellow Marine Ross Milvenen said the troops would have liked to be deployed earlier.

"We were all quite excited when we came out here and were expecting to meet the enemy. So it was a bit of a disappointment after Snipe. From speaking to the locals, it appears that they have gone across the border," he told AFP. "In my opinion, we could have been involved in this a bit earlier like in Anaconda. But I still think we've been a success, especially during the election (last month's Loya Jirga) when we seemed to stop them coming across the border and prevented any problems."

U.S. spokesman Major Gary Tallman insisted that the withdrawal of the British would not impact on the coalition's overall combat capability. "We have 7,000 forces here in Afghanistan, we have several thousand more in the surrounding area and we have marines off the shore. We have the capability if something has to be done."

Tallman admitted that the nature of combat operations in Afghanistan had changed in the past few months. "The foe has been adoptive. We know they are smaller numbers. We do not think we are going to see other Anaconda type missions, but we are ready if there is a concentration of forces."