WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - A senior U.S. military commander said on Wednesday he did not expect the Taliban to mount a major offensive in eastern Afghanistan this spring.

Afghan security forces and other civilian authorities had established a stronger presence in the east, said Army Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez, the top commander of NATO troops in that part of the country.

"I don't think there will be a big spring offensive this year," said Rodriguez, on a visit back to the United States.

"The people of Afghanistan don't want the Taliban back and the strength of their institutions has grown significantly in the last year," he said at the Pentagon.

Fighting has traditionally surged in Afghanistan in the spring after winter snows melt, allowing fighters to move around more easily.

U.S. officials say eastern Afghanistan has become substantially more stable in the past year, thanks to the work of U.S. troops and Afghan officials in countering the influence of Taliban Islamist militants.

But violence overall in Afghanistan has risen.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last month that total violence was up 27 percent from a year ago and up more than 60 percent in the southern province of Helmand, scene of the heaviest fighting.

The United States said last week it would send about 3,200 Marines to Afghanistan to help NATO troops fight the Taliban in the south and to train Afghan security forces. (Reporting by Andrew Gray, editing by Doina Chiacu)

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