Washington  - The top White House security advisor weighed in this weekend on the growing public debate over future US military strategy in Afghanistan.

National security adviser James Jones Sunday suggested that General Stanley McChrystal, commander of the 100,000 US and international forces in Afghanistan, has exaggerated the hold of the Taliban and was circumventing the chain of command with his public advocacy for more troops.

McChrystal made a major speech in London last week to press his case for 40,000 more troops in Afghanistan, a change in strategy, and more attention to be paid to the welfare of Afghan citizens.

His speech came just a day after the White House began a review of its tactics with a view to regaining momentum in Afghanistan, where casualties for US troops have exceeded the numbers in Iraq for nearly a year amid fighting with the resurgent Taliban.

On Sunday, the US military in Kabul confirmed that eight US soldiers and two Afghan troops were killed when suspected Taliban insurgents attacked their outposts in eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan. Another US soldier was killed in roadside bomb blast in the same region.

"Ideally, it's better for military advice to come up through the chain of command and I think that General McChrystal and the others in the chain of command will present the president with not just one option ... but a range of options," Jones, the former supreme allied commander in Europe, told CNN broadcaster on Sunday.

Responding to McChrystal's warning of dire consequences if additional forces are not deployed, Jones said he thought the solution was more complex than "just about adding X number of troops."

"I don't foresee the return of the Taliban, and I want to be very clear that Afghanistan is not in imminent danger of falling," Jones said.

The day after McChrystal's London speech, he was summoned to Copenhagen to meet with Obama. In May, Obama fired McChrystal's predecessor and named McChrystal to the Afghanistan command. The US currently has 68,000 troops in Afghanistan. (dpa)