Canada: Afghanistan 'worse than ever'

Security in Afghanistan has deteriorated to a seven-year low, Canada admitted yesterday, as President Hamid Karzai continued to vent frustration at the slow pace of progress and accidental civilian deaths caused by Western forces. "Numbers of insurgent incidents and casualty rates among civilians and soldiers reached levels higher than in any year since the Taliban regime was overthrown in 2001," concluded the assessment tabled by the government. "Security conditions in this quarter were worse than in the previous quarter, and worse than a year ago." International Trade Minister Stockwell Day, chairperson of the cabinet committee on Afghanistan, acknowledged, "there's been a deterioration".