President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan waves at the Ataturk airport in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2008. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Burhan Ozbilici)

KABUL, Afghanistan - The embattled Afghan president has pledged that there would be no place for corrupt officials in his new administration - a demand made by Washington and its international partners as they ponder sending more troops to confront the Taliban and shore up his government.

Also Sunday, NATO reported three more coalition soldiers - one American and two Britons - died in combat with the Taliban in western and southern areas. The latest losses pushed Britain's combat death toll in the eight-year Afghan war to 201.

With casualties mounting, corruption has become a frontburner issue in Afghanistan, with President Barack Obama and other world leaders under pressure from their own constituents to explain why they are sending young soldiers to fight and die in defence 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.

With his reputation sullied by the fraud-marred election that returned his to power, Afghan President Hamid Karzai gave assurances Sunday that he would rid his government of corrupt officials.

"Individuals who are involved in corruption will have no place in the government," Karzai said in an interview with the U.S. Public Broadcasting Service. The presidential press office released comments from the interview.

Karzai also said donor countries share 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 co-operation 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.

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 two missing American paratroopers, who disappeared Wednesday and may have drowned.

Fierce fighting erupted during the search operation Friday, and NATO and Afghan forces are investigating whether a botched NATO airstrike 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 Sunday in explosions in the southern province of Helmand, the Defence Ministry announced. The latest deaths brought the total number of British service members who have died in Afghanistan to 232 - including 201 due to hostile fire.

In the east of the country, militants twice attacked a fuel supply convoy as it travelled along a main supply route between Pakistan and the Afghan capital of Kabul. Police said at least two private security guards and a policeman were wounded in the attacks.

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Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez, Elena Becatoros and Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.