WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush will meet on Wednesday the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, with 2008 already the bloodiest year for international troops in the war-torn country since the 2001 invasion.
The meeting, set for 2:25 pm (1825 GMT), comes two days after incoming US regional commander General David Petraeus warned that parts of Afghanistan were in a "spiral downward."
Last week, a senior Pentagon official said Bush had ordered a review of US strategy in Afghanistan amid rising insurgent violence and tensions with Pakistan just four months before he leaves office.
Bush has ordered 5,000 more US troops to Afghanistan in an echo of his "surge" strategy in Iraq, seen as a major factor in bringing violence down and enabling the fledgling Baghdad government to work for political reconciliation.
"The president looks forward to hearing from General McKiernan on his view of the current situation in Afghanistan," said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
An AFP tally has found that 2008 is already the deadliest year for the US-led force that is fighting insurgents in Afghanistan since the late 2001 invasion to topple the Taliban Islamist militia.
In just nine months at least 221 international soldiers, most of them Americans, have lost their lives in the US-led "war on terror" in Afghanistan, figures compiled by AFP show.
In 2007, a total of 219 troops were killed in Afghanistan
There is no official authority that releases death tolls for the ongoing conflict, but the independent icasualties.org website, which tracks casualties based on news reports and press releases, says the toll has topped that of last year.
The website puts the fatalities so far this year at 233, excluding the three soldiers killed on Monday, and including some involved in the Afghan mission who died outside of the country. The website said 232 troops died last year.
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