The security situation in Afghanistan has «deteriorated markedly» over the last six months, the United Nations' secretary-general said in a new report. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also expressed dismay that attacks against aid workers have increased in 2008, said the report released by his office in New York on Tuesday. At least 30 aid workers have been killed and 92 abducted so far this year. At least 22 World Food Program convoys have been attacked, as have 59 schools. «Regardless of the progress made in certain areas, my overall impression is that the situation in the country has deteriorated over the past six months,» Ban said in the report. «Nevertheless, I strongly believe that the negative trend can be reversed.» Saying that security has «deteriorated markedly,» the report noted that the number of U.N.-recorded security-related incidents rose to 983 in August _ the highest monthly total since the Taliban's ouster in late 2001. More than 4,600 people _ many of them militants _ have died in insurgency related violence in 2008, according to an Associated Press count of figures from Afghan and Western officials. That figure includes more than 750 Afghan police.' A record number of U.S. and NATO soldiers have died in Afghanistan already in 2008. The U.N. says some 1,450 civilians have died in violence this year caused both by insurgents but also U.S. and NATO military operations.
