United Nations, Dec 19: Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned UN member states that "we may lose Afghanistan'' unless they help improve security there. Annan strongly backed the serious concerns about security expressed by the top UN envoy in Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, in an interview last Friday.

"He sounded a serious alarm that we need to deal with the security issue, and if we do not deal with that, we may lose Afghanistan,'' the Secretary-General said yesterday.

"I think that it was legitimate that he sounded the alarm, and I urge member states to pay attention to it and help US in improving security in Afghanistan, so that we can get on with our work.''

In the interview, Brahimi warned that the United Nations - already forced out of Iraq by suicide bombers - may have to abandon its two-year effort to stabilize Afghanistan because of rising violence blamed on the Taliban.

He said his team could not continue its work in this war-ravaged nation unless security improves. Brahimi also called for more foreign troops to halt attacks that have killed at least 11 aid workers across the south and east since March.

Annan renewed the UN call for governments to contribute troops to an expanded international force that would operate beyond Kabul, and for countries with influence on Afghanistan's warlords to use it "to calm them down'' so the United Nations and others can work in a relatively "risk-free environment." Bureau Report