The United Nations' findings appeared at odds with Pentagon assertions this week claiming slow-but-steady progress in Afghanistan — an assessment challenged by US lawmakers during hearings on Capitol Hill.The report, which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon submitted to the UN Security Council this week, said Afghanistan's overall security situation "has not improved" since his last report in March.Roadside bombings in the first four months of 2010 skyrocketed 94 percent over the same period of 2009, and assassinations of Afghan officials jumped 45 percent, mostly in the ethnic Pashtun south, which has become the focus of the war, the report said.Suicide attacks occurred at a rate of about three per week, half in the restive south. The increase in complex attacks — using a combination of suicide bombers and small-arms fire — pointed to Taleban groups linked with Al-Qaeda, the report said.The study found some encouraging signs, however, including the government's plan to reach out to insurgents and offer economic incentives to leave the battlefield. It also said the UN was working with Afghan officials to prepare for parliamentary elections in September.Nevertheless, the UN found the number of security incidents had "increased significantly compared to previous years," in large part because of more military operations in the south early this year.NATO spokesman Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz told reporters in the capital on Saturday despite negative assessments, the international force was making steady strides."Tough fighting is expected to continue, but the situation is trending in our favor as more forces flow into the area," Blotz said.He said joint NATO and Afghan forces were stepping up the pace of identifying and killing those responsible for attacks. Insurgent commanders were being apprehended by coalition forces, which over time will disrupt the ability to organize suicide and roadside bomb attacks, he said."It has to be tougher perhaps before it goes easier," said Blotz.Blotz said the number of civilians killed or wounded in operations involving the international force dropped by 44.4 percent in the past 12 weeks, compared with the same period in 2009."In the same period of time, the number of civilian casualties caused by the insurgency increased by 36 percent," Blotz said.