KABUL — Two battles killed more than 165 Taliban fighters and an American-led coalition soldier in southern Afghanistan as President Karzai discussed the escalating violence with President Bush in New York today.

One of the clashes began yesterday when several dozen insurgents attacked a joint coalition-Afghan patrol with machine guns, mortars, and rocket-propelled grenades near the Taliban-controlled town of Musa Qala in Helmand province, with Taliban reinforcements flowing in all day, a coalition statement said.

The coalition said it returned artillery fire and called in fighter aircraft, killing more than 100 of the Taliban fighters. One coalition soldier was killed and four wounded.

The coalition said there were no immediate reports of civilian deaths or injuries.

Taliban militants overran Musa Qala in February, four months after British troops left the town following a contentious peace agreement that handed over security responsibilities to Afghan elders. Musa Qala has been in control of Taliban fighters ever since.

Situated in northern Helmand province, Musa Qala and the region around it have seen the heaviest fighting in Afghanistan this year. It is also in the middle of the country’s poppy-growing belt.

In neighboring Uruzgan province, more than 80 Taliban fighters attacked a joint Afghan and coalition patrol from bunkers near the village of Kakrak in a six-hour battle last night, the coalition said.

Coalition artillery and air support bombarded Taliban positions, killing more than 65 insurgents, it said.

No Afghan or coalition forces were hurt.

The battle took place near an area where more than three dozen insurgents were killed as they prepared an ambush six days ago, the coalition said.

The huge clashes came as Mr. Karzai met Mr. Bush in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Despite Afghanistan’s booming drug trade and a resurgence of Taliban violence, Mr. Bush said Afghanistan is becoming a safer, more stable country thanks to Mr. Karzai’s efforts.

“Mr. president, you have strong friends here,” Mr. Bush told Mr. Karzai after they met for about an hour at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. “I expect progress and you expect progress and I appreciate the report you have given me today.”

There are more than 20,000 American troops in Afghanistan, part of a larger international force battling the Taliban to try to stabilize the country.

Some of Mr. Bush’s critics argue he should have finished the job in Afghanistan before invading Iran to topple President Saddam Hussein.