"We've been at this for about seven months now and I believe we've made progress," General Stanley McChrystal said in an interview with ABC television.

But he added: "It's not a completed mission yet."

President Barack Obama last month approved McChrystal's request for a major increase in US troops in Afghanistan, ordering 30,000 reinforcements.

The general recounted a recent meeting in the Helmand river valley in the country's south -- a former Taliban stronghold -- as an example of progress underway.

"When I sit in an area that the Taliban controlled only seven months ago and now you meet with a shura of elders and they describe with considerable optimism the future, you sense the tide is turning," he said in remarks posted on the US network's website.

Asked if NATO-led forces were shifting the momentum against Taliban insurgents, the general said: "I believe we're doing it right now.

"I believe we've changed the way we operate in Afghanistan. We've changed some of our structures. I believe we are on the way to convincing the Afghan people that we are here to protect them."

But he said time was short.

"I think that clock is in the minds of the Afghan people, so I do feel that we have got to move quickly to convince them that we can help them build a country," he said.

earlier related report
Three US soldiers killed in Afghan unrest: NATO
Kabul (AFP) Jan 11, 2010 - Three US soldiers were killed on Monday while fighting insurgents in volatile southern Afghanistan, NATO said.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force gave few details, saying only: "Three ISAF service members from the United States were killed this afternoon in an engagement with enemy forces in southern Afghanistan."

Southern Afghanistan is at the heart of a Taliban-led insurgency now in its ninth year.

The latest deaths take to 12 the number of foreign soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year, according to an AFP tally based on that kept by the independent website icasualties.org.

Last year was the deadliest since the insurgency began, with 520 foreign soldiers dying in Afghanistan, compared to 295 in 2008.

Of the 2009 casualties, 317 were US nationals while the rest were from more than 40 other nations in the coalition fighting the Taliban under US and NATO command.

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 to capture Al-Qaeda leaders whom Washington said were responsible for the 9-11 attacks on US cities, and Taliban commanders who sheltered the Islamist network.

The insurgency, launched by remnants of the Taliban regime months after their ouster, has gained pace, and the United States and NATO are set to deploy another 40,000 troops during this year, on top of the current 113,000.

The insurgency is largely concentrated in southern and eastern Afghanistan but is expanding to the previously calm north and west of the country.

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