About 4,000 of the additional troops the United States is expected to send to Afghanistan will be deployed around the capital.

"They're going to be positioned south and west of Kabul in the Wardak and Logar provinces," said Brigadier General Mark Milley, deputy commander of operations in Afghanistan's east.

"With the French conducting operations north of Kabul and a new US brigade south and west, and reinforcements east of Kabul, we feel pretty good about seeing some significant improvements in the surrounding provinces of Kabul."

The decision to deploy fresh troops around Kabul reflects the growing concern among international military leaders over an increase in insurgent activity surrounding the capital.

In August, 10 French soldiers died in an ambush about 60 kilometres (40 miles) east of the capital, just three weeks after three Canadian and American aid workers were killed in a Taliban attack 50 kilometres to the south.

Supply convoys from Pakistan to the east are frequently attacked, sometimes just outside the capital.

The Taliban, who were in power from 1996 to late 2001, have waged a bloody insurgency against Afghan and international forces in Afghanistan.

The rising insurgency has claimed thousands of lives and slowed down the internationally backed post-Taliban reconstruction of Afghanistan.

The United States, which already has 33,000 troops in Afghanistan, is due to deploy another 20,000 there in the coming months. Most of these forces will be diverted from Iraq.

earlier related report
Taliban and civilians hit by bombardment
Four Taliban militants were killed and at least four civilians injured on Saturday as international forces bombed two houses in southern Afghanistan after a patrol was attacked, officals said.

The air strike targeted the village of Shena Kali in the Nadali district of Helmand, a hub of Taliban fighters and the main opium production centre in the south of the country.

"This morning, armed Taliban attacked an international forces convoy and then the Taliban escaped to a house," Assadullah Shirzad, police chief of Helmand province, told AFP.

"This house was bombed and four Taliban were killed and two others wounded. The wounded Taliban are under treatment and investigation of international forces. In this bombing, four women were also wounded."

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it was aware of the incident, which had led to two deaths and six injuries, without being able to confirm if all the victims were civilians.

"ISAF forces, operating in support of an Afghan army operation, came under heavy and sustained fire from a clearly identified compound.

"After sustained contact from the enemy from numerous positions, and having exhausted all other means of extracting themselves from the area, they called for close air support.

"Two targeted air strikes were carried out as a last resort to enable the joint patrol to leave the area safely.

"An investigation is ongoing. ISAF can confirm that 2 people were killed and 6 others injured," the force said in a statement.

"These individuals were brought to an ISAF base in Nad-i-Ali after the incident. The cause and status of these casualties has yet to be established and is subject to investigation," the statement contimued.

"After initial medical treatment, the four most seriously injured casualties were taken to the ISAF hospital at Camp Bastion. The two others remained at the ISAF base. Of the four taken to the ISAF hospital, two have since been detained. The two less seriously injured casualties, who stayed at the ISAF base in Nad-i-Ali, have also been detained."

But nearby villagers, contacted by AFP by telephone, said the toll was much higher.

"They bombed two houses, the one where the Taliban were hidden and another one, the house of a farmer, where nine people were killed," Mohammad Islam said.

A second villager, Abdul Satar, said 10 people, including women and children, were found dead under the debris of the house.

Foreign forces in Afghanistan regularly kill civilians in firefights or airstrikes on insurgents, proking anger among the local population and the Afghan authorities.

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