KABUL: The insurgency in Afghanistan has killed four times more people this year than last with spiralling violence a leading factor in threateningly weak development in the past five years, according to a new report.

The Joint Coordinating and Monitoring Board report was presented to a meeting on Sunday of the body, which draws together the government and its world partners to track efforts to build the country after the fall of the Taliban.

The meeting was also attended by a visiting delegation from the UN Security Council and came on the five-year anniversary of the Taliban government's retreat from Kabul in the face of an international and Afghan offensive. The biannual report said the record growth in Afghanistan's opium crop this year as well as corruption, inefficiency and poor governance were also to blame for disappointing progress, which was angering the public. Increased insurgent activity, led by the ousted Taliban, had diverted much of the government's attention and significant resources, it said.

Insurgent or terrorist-related security incidents had increased from fewer than 300 a month by end-March this year to more than 600 by end-September, compared with a 2005 average of approximately 130 per month, the report said.

“The insurgency has directly resulted in over 3,700 fatalities since January 2006, which account for 89 per cent of all (the 4,214) deaths resulting from violent conflict in Afghanistan since 1 January 2006 -- a rate four times greater than in 2005.”About two-thirds of the dead are estimated to be rebel fighters, with the rest civilians and members of the Afghan security forces or the 40,000 foreign troops here to assist them.

Afghanistan's opium output -- which the UN has said reached a record 6,100 tonnes this year, the highest in the world -- had meanwhile “significantly helped fuel the ongoing insurgency” in provinces in the south, the report said.—AFP