Security conditions throughout Afghanistan continue to deteriorate, according to a Canadian government report on the mission, with the frequency of attacks in May and June higher than in any month since the fall of the Taliban.

The government's latest quarterly report said Kandahar province in particular, where Canadian forces are concentrated, experienced "a steep increase in the number of enemy-initiated attacks against soldiers, civilians and facilities during the quarter."

Although it follows a yearly trend that usually sees violence increase at the end of the poppy harvest, "the frequency of security events in Kandahar was exceptionally high," the report said.

The report said that the number of incidents involving improvised explosive devices was 108 per cent higher than in the same three months of 2008.

The report noted that some of the insurgency attacks were a result of Afghan and international forces seeking to clear and hold areas previously controlled by insurgents.

International Trade Minister Stockwell Day, who is in charge of the cabinet committee on Afghanistan, tried to put the best face on the report, noting Canada is the only NATO country that publicly reports "on progress — or lack of progress."

He paid tribute to three soldiers killed over the last couple of weeks and said that "because Canadian soldiers are in Afghanistan, lives are saved, progress can be monitored, the situation of the lives of the people of Afghanistan is improving in a number of key areas."

With files from The Canadian Press