UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday that there are deeper problems behind what happened in Afghanistan recently, and called for security forces to be strengthened there.

"Obviously, what has happened is symptomatic of perhaps deeper problems," Annan told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.

He said he had consulted with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about measures which can be taken to help bring the situation under control.

Annan further specified the deeper problems, which include an insecure situation in parts of the country, the question of the drug cultivation and production, and the need to strengthen security forces and national institutions.

"These do take time and resources, but we need to persevere," the secretary-general observed, stressing that "we have to work with them, to strengthen their security forces."

Source: Xinhua