Also yesterday, NATO reported three more coalition soldiers - one American and two Britons - died in combat with the Taliban in western and southern areas.

NATO forces said they were still searching for two American paratroopers who disappeared Wednesday while trying to recover air-dropped supplies that had fallen into a river.

With casualties mounting, corruption has become a front-burner issue in Afghanistan, with President Obama and other world leaders under pressure from their own constituents to explain why they are sending young soldiers to fight and die in defense of a government riddled with graft, cronyism, and fraud.

Obama is considering a request from the top U.S. and NATO commander to send tens of thousands more U.S. troops to curb the growing Taliban insurgency.

Hamid Karzai was proclaimed the winner last week in a fraud-marred presidential election after his only remaining challenger dropped out ahead of a runoff, saying he did not expect a fair vote.

With his reputation sullied by the messy election, Karzai gave assurances yesterday that he would rid his government of corrupt officials. "Individuals who are involved in corruption will have no place in the government," he said in an interview with the U.S. Public Broadcasting Service.

Karzai also said donor countries shared some of the responsibility for rampant corruption because of a poorly structured system to manage projects. The U.N. and some donor countries have also cited the need for a more efficient system to guarantee the money serves the Afghan people.

"There is no accountability of their contracts, and there is a serious corruption in the implementation of those projects. And the responsibility for this corruption is [with] the international community," Karzai said. "I am hopeful that by joint cooperation, we will be able to overcome all these challenges."

His remarks were made one day after the Afghan Foreign Ministry accused foreign critics of using corruption allegations to influence the makeup of the new government. "Such instructions have violated respect for Afghanistan's national sovereignty," the ministry said.

A NATO statement said the American service member was killed in an insurgent attack Saturday in western Afghanistan. The statement said the death was not part of the ongoing search operation for the two missing paratroopers but gave no further details.

Fierce fighting erupted during the search operation Friday, and NATO and Afghan forces are investigating whether a botched NATO air strike was responsible for the death of seven Afghan soldiers and police and an Afghan interpreter during the rescue operation.

One British soldier was killed Saturday and another yesterday in explosions in the southern province of Helmand, the Defense Ministry announced.

Britain is the largest contributor to NATO forces in Afghanistan after the United States, with about 9,000 troops. The latest deaths brought the total number of British service members who have died in Afghanistan to 232 - including 201 due to hostile fire.