Last year I asked the American R&B star Ne-Yo what he wanted for Christmas. I was chatting to him backstage at the Jingle Bell Ball at London's O2 arena.
"What do I want for Christmas?" he repeated "I have everything!"
But after a moment's reflection he added:
"You know what I want for Christmas? I want the troops to come home, that's what I want. Make it happen Barack. Work it out."
2010 bloodiest year yet for troops in Afghanistan
Unfortunately Ne-Yo didn't get his Christmas wish. In fact, according to icasualties.org, an independent website that monitors foreign troop deaths, 2010 has been bloodiest year yet for coalition troops and civilians in Afghanistan since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001.
This year more than 650 foreign military personnel have been killed in Afghanistan, of those 457 are American, 100 British and 105 from other countries. Crude homemade bombs, known as IEDs, account for most of the fatalities.
Nearly half of the deaths have occurred in the southern Helmand province and neighbouring Kandahar where thousands of US and Afghan troops launched an operation in September to disrupt strongholds in the Taliban's heartlands.
Total number of British and US fatalities
Since the start of the military operation in October 2001 a total of 345 British military personnel have died while serving in Afghanistan. The total number of US fatalities stands much higher at 1324.
With support for the so called "war on terror" in decline it makes uncomfortable reading for the leaders of Western governments.
Even so, the number of foreign troop casualties lags far behind those suffered by ordinary Afghans who get caught up in the crossfire. A report released by the United Nations showed civilian casualties had risen by 31 percent over the first six months of 2010, compared with the same period last year.
White House review of Afghan war
The White House has now begun a review of the Afghan war. President Barack Obama must decide how quickly he can withdraw his troops and hand over responsibility to local Afghan security forces. The administration hopes to present some of the findings of the review by the middle of December.
There are now more than 140,000 troops in Afghanistan. The United States has deployed 90,000 with the NATO led International Security Assistance Force and an additional 10,000 are part of the Amerian Operation Enduring Freedom.
Britain currently contributes the second largest number of troops to the Afghan mission, with some 9,500 personnel. Earlier this year the Prime Minister David Cameron said he wanted UK troops out of Afghanistan within five years.
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