Afghan security worst for 10 years, says UN

Security in the country is at its lowest level for a decade and two-fifths of the country is off-limits, a departing United Nations official claimed yesterday.

Robert Watkins, a Canadian diplomat and the UN's deputy special representative in Afghanistan, alleged that security was "at its lowest point since the departure of the Taliban" following the 2001 invasion.

He said the UN could rarely enter 40 per cent of the country, including Kandahar, and that access to areas it wanted to develop had progressively deteriorated over the past 10 years.