KABUL — Canadian troops conducted their last patrols around the Afghan capital Thursday before their commanding officer turned over their area of operations to a Norwegian-led battle group.

Members of the 3rd Battalion, Royal 22nd Regiment Battle Group fanned out across the city of 3.5 million in the last of more than 3,800 patrols and 880 checkpoints they conducted over the past six months.

The contingent suffered no casualties, although the Canadians' rotation will not be complete until an armoured reconnaissance squadron turns over its Kabul-wide responsibilities to replacements from Edmonton next week.

"I feel great," the battalion commander, Lt.-Col. Stephane Roy, said after a change-of-command ceremony late in the day.

"It was a challenging mission and I feel great because it went well. I'm happy that I'm bringing all my soldiers back to Canada with me."

The sprawling Canadian sector, which includes city streets and village markets, goat tracks and mountain passes, dusty desert and lush valleys, is now being patrolled by Norwegians, Belgians and Hungarians.

The Canadian battalion's final patrol was conducted by five paratroopers out of Valcartier, Que., led by veteran Sgt. Sylvain Leclerc, who is completing his fifth and, he says, last tour.

Under a blistering Afghan sun, Leclerc took his section on a three-hour patrol that included an always-nerve-wracking checkpoint, a brief foot patrol through war ruins, handouts to impatient children and cigars for Afghan militia troops with whom Leclerc had many long conversations.

"We talked about religion, the family, the way life is in Afghanistan," he said. "We didn't talk about war _ anything but war."

Leclerc, a 39-year-old native of Ruesseaux-a-Rebours, Que., led more than 100 patrols during his time in Kabul. His wife is in the army as well, and between them they have drawn more tours than he can count.

"When she's gone, I come back," he said. "When I get back, she's gone.

"It's always like that and I think that's enough."

Others figure they will be back to Afghanistan, however, even though Ottawa has made no formal commitment to the NATO force beyond August 2005.

Roy himself said the Vandoos will likely return sooner than later.

"Probably (Canadian forces are) going to stay for a couple of years over here and we have only three brigades in Canada," he said. "In one year from now, probably people from Valcartier will come back.

"Afghanistan is progressing but it's going to take a while. There's still a job to do over here."

Roy's replacement is Norwegian Lt.-Col. Yngve Odlo, a 41-year-old armoured soldier on his first overseas deployment. His 550-member battle group is covering a sector patrolled by 700 of the 2,000 Canadians.

"It's a huge responsibility but we are trained and I am prepared to do it," said Odlo. "I am quite confident."

The Canadian contingent completed 154 do-good projects around the war-torn city, spending more than $400,000 on such things as schools, orphanages, roads, culverts, police gear, water projects and garbage collection points.

The Canadians also administered two training courses to hundreds of city police, and five embedded trainers spent their tours with an Afghan National Army battalion.

Combat engineers responded to 340 calls for disposal of explosive ordnance and 13 calls for planted bombs, known in military parlance as improvised explosive devices. The engineers destroyed 29,277 kilograms of ammunition.

"It was a very busy tour," said Master Cpl. Martin Croteau of Trois-Rivieres, Que., who performed more than 100 patrols and did two weeks of gate duty during his six months in Afghanistan. "I am exhausted."