In an interview with the BBC, he also played down the prospect of a rapid withdrawal of US troops next year, repeating his insistence that US President Barack Obama's target of July 2011 was only a "date when a process begins".

As the toll of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan rose once again Monday with the death of two more NATO troops, Petraeus said the road ahead could be bloody but insisted the nine-year campaign was making progress.

"The momentum that the Taliban have established over the course of recent years has been reversed in many of the areas of the country and will be reversed in the other areas as well," he told the BBC.

"Now that's not enough -- you not only have to reverse the momentum, of course you have to take away the sanctuaries and safe havens that the Taliban have been able to establish over the course of those years that they enjoyed the momentum and that's going to entail tough fighting."

The general cited Helmand province in southern Afghanistan as one area where NATO troops have "certainly" reversed the rise of the Taliban, who were ousted from power in Kabul by the US-led invasion in 2001.

The reversal was "beginning" in Kandahar, while there was also success around Kabul where, he noted, Afghan forces were now taking control of security operations in all but one district of the capital.

However, Petraeus acknowledged the toll this has taken on international forces, who have lost 453 soldiers already this year, according to an AFP tally based on the independent icasualities.org website.

The death toll for the whole of 2009 was 520.

"When you take away areas that mean a great deal to the enemy, the enemy fights back. It gets harder before it gets easier," Petraeus said.

The number of foreign troops in Afghanistan is set to peak at 150,000 in the coming weeks following orders from Washington for a "surge" aimed at speeding up the end of the war, ahead of US plans to begin withdrawing next July.

Petraeus previously saved a failing US mission in Iraq with a similar surge there in 2007.

The general repeated his argument Monday that any withdrawal must be based on conditions on the ground in Afghanistan -- a position that has put him at odds with US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who insists the date is set in stone.

"It's very important to remember what July 2011 actually is -- that's a date when a process begins, nothing more, nothing less. It is not the date when American forces begin an exodus and look for the exit and the light to turn off on the way out of the room," Petraeus told the BBC.

"It's a date when a process of transition of some tasks to some Afghan forces in those areas where the conditions allow it and at a pace allowed by the conditions. That's what begins then."

Petraeus said he would tell Obama if the conditions were not right in July, adding: "It could very well be that he may not accept all of that advice."

The general took over after his predecessor, Stanley McChrystal, was sacked following indiscreet remarks to a magazine.

Asked about his own prospects, Petraeus said: "You go into a job like this, you think it's your last job... you're determined to do the very best you can."

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