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The Associated Press

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KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S. troops abandoned a remote outpost in eastern Afghanistan where militants killed nine of their comrades this week, officials said Wednesday, in another sign of the struggle facing foreign and Afghan security forces strung out along the mountainous border.

Elsewhere in the frontier region, NATO launched artillery and helicopter strikes in Pakistan after coming under insurgent rocket fire, officials said.

The violence is another indication of the growing strength of the Taliban-led insurgency, especially in Afghanistan's east, where the outpost near the village of Wanat was breached by militants Sunday. Nine Americans were killed in the deadliest incident for U.S. forces in three years.

On Tuesday, the insurgents drove out the handful of police left behind to defend government offices in the village, but 50 more officers were deployed Wednesday and soon regained control, senior provincial police official Ghoolam Farouq said.

The militants retreated into the mountains, and village elders negotiated a truce between the two sides, Farouq said.

Omar Sami, spokesman for the Nuristan provincial governor, said American and Afghan soldiers left the base Tuesday.

NATO confirmed that the post, which lies amid precipitous mountains close to the Pakistan border, had been vacated while insisting that international and Afghan troops will "retain a strong presence in that area with patrolling and other means."

In Washington, Pentagon leaders said Wednesday they are looking for ways to send additional troops to Afghanistan this year, signalling an acceleration in what had been plans to shift forces there no earlier than next year.

"I think that we are clearly working very hard to see if there are opportunities to send additional forces sooner rather than later," Defence Secretary Robert Gates told Pentagon reporters. But, he added that no final decisions or recommendations have been made.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who recently returned from meetings with commanders in Afghanistan, said they clearly want more troops.

"It's a tougher fight, it's a more complex fight, and they need more troops to have the long-term impact that we all want to have there," said Mullen, who also met last week with Pakistani leaders.

The outpost retreat is considered a victory by insurgents after a spate of security setbacks for the Afghan government.