A NATO official said Monday 2,000 more alliance troops may be headed to Afghanistan at the request of General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander of international forces in there.
If approved, the additional troops would join the 140,000 strong international force already in Afghanistan.
The official in Brussels did not clarify which of the alliance's 28 members would send the new troops, but noted that nearly half of the requested force would be trainers for the Afghan security forces.
Getting Afghan security forces ready to take over security responsibilities is paramount to the withdrawal of foreign troops from the war-scarred nation.
Also Monday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered an investigation into the stabbing death of well-known Afghan journalist Sayed Hamid Noori outside his Kabul home Sunday night.
In other violence, NATO said three Afghan children were killed and five others wounded Monday in an insurgent attack on a coalition combat outpost in eastern Paktika province.
In northern Baghlan province, reports indicate that the governor of Nahrin district, Ahmad Joshan Pour, and his driver were ambushed and killed by unknown gunmen.
Earlier Monday, four Afghan government workers were reportedly kidnapped by a large group of insurgents in northeastern Kunar province.
And in central Uruzgan province, a combined Afghan-coalition force raided a suspected Taliban compound, killing one insurgent and detaining 13 others.