The US military machine is building up its presence in Afghanistan after paying what its leaders admit is a "frightful" cost in Iraq, while no one in the West can wants to predict where the next surprise war will erupt in 2009.

Conflicts that resurged in Democratic Republic of Congo or festered in Sudan''s Darfur region and Somalia gave a stark reminder just how overstretched the developed world''s armies are. The United Nations struggled to raise troops and equipment for any of the hostile zones where thousands have died in 2008.

Russia''s five day war with Georgia in August showed how a conflict can appear from nowhere and some experts are convinced that the economic crisis could push a struggling state into a new war that the world can ill afford.

Afghanistan has taken over from Iraq as the war causing most worry.

There are now about 70,000 international troops in Afghanistan, including about 32,000 Americans and more than 8,000 British. But the country has been through its worst year since the Taliban government was ousted in 2001.

The Taliban militia is back with a vengeance with about 270 foreign troops killed there this year on top of 1,250 Afghan soldiers and police. Suicide bombers are a daily menace.

As the United States moves toward the exit in Iraq, it is slowly but surely making a significant troop buildup in Afghanistan.

US president-elect Barack Obama has made Afghanistan a priority and the commander of US and NATO forces there, General David McKiernan, has sought 20,000 additional troops.

The United States is also pressing other nations for more troops. The allies are reluctant and for the moment, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has only promised two combat brigades, which will be taken off the US deployment in Iraq, where security has improved.