NATO says, three foreign soldiers and a civilian working with NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have been killed in Afghanistan. French president Nicolas Sarkozy identified one of the soldiers killed as a French captain from an engineering regiment, while Dutch authorities said another was 25-year-old corporal Luc Janzen. The latest casualties bring the number of foreign soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year to 215. In 2009, the deadliest year since the United States led an invasion that overthrew the Taliban regime in late 2001, 520 foreign soldiers were killed. The United States and its NATO allies are increasing their military deployment in Afghanistan to 150,000, about two-thirds of which is American. The United States believes the "surge" of troops can wrest the initiative from the Taliban in key population centres and allow foreign forces to start withdrawing from the unpopular and costly conflict next year.