Eight US soldiers working for the NATO-led force and one Afghan civilian have been killed in multiple bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan today.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said several troops were also wounded in the "multiple complex (bomb) attacks" but would not give further details of the attacks, which come a day after 11 US troops were killed in two helicopter crashes.
Several troops were also wounded in "multiple complex (bomb) attacks, just a day after 11 US troops died in separate helicopter crashes.
The mounting violence comes at a time when US President Barack Obama is weighing up his options on whether to send additional troops to Afghanistan to fight a Taliban insurgency. that is at its strongest since 2001.
US-led efforts to stabilise the country have been further complicated by weeks of political tension over a presidential election marred by widespread fraud in favour of incumbent Hamid Karzai, forcing a second round set for Nov.7
President Karzai's camp said a run-off vote in the presidential election must take place even if his challenger Abdullah Abdullah quits the race.
President
Karzai agreed to a run-off under severe international pressure last week after a UN-led fraud investigation annulled a huge chunk of his votes in the original Aug. 20 election and triggered a second round.
Fuelling talk that he might pull out from the race altogether, Abdullah set out a range of conditions this week ahead of the Nov. 7 second round that were immediately rejected by Karzai's team.
Waheed Omar, Karzai's chief campaign spokesman, told Reuters the election must take place even if Abdullah resigns.
"We should not deprive the people from their right of voting and their right of citizenship," he said. "This is a legal process and should go ahead ... Whether or not president and Abdullah take part in the run-off or not should not result in depriving the people from what they want".
Concerns about security and a repeat of the fraud that tainted the first round have cast a shadow over the process, and made some diplomats suggest that a power-sharing deal between the two contenders looked more practical.
Karzai and Abdullah have so far publicly denied suggestions they could be in talks on a possible power-sharing deal and said that holding the second round was key to strengthening democracy.
Abdullah has given Karzai until Saturday to sack the country's top election official and meet a range of other demands but would not say what he would do if his conditions were not met. He could not be reached for comment today.
In Luxembourg, the European Union said it would increase aid to Afghanistan but warned the situation was deteriorating and reforms were almost non-existent in some areas.
In an appeal made at a time when public support for the war in Afghanistan is fading in Western countries, Russia, China and India urged the world to remain engaged in Afghanistan to help it counter extremism and drug trafficking.