The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, has urged American forces to work more closely with his government, to avoid incidents such as the air attack on a house last night which killed nine children.
The US military says it had intelligence to suggest that Taliban fighters were planning an attack from the house in the east of the country, near the city of Ghazni.
A tenth person - the intended target described by the Americans as a Taliban guerrilla - was also killed in the attack
The army has begun an investigation into the incident. The United Nations said it was profoundly distressed by the deaths of the children and called for a swift investigation.
A military spokesman, Major Christopher West, says they will be staying to help the relatives of the victims.
In a separate incident, an American soldier was killed and two others were wounded when a roadside bomb went off as their convoy was passing in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
