While defending his backing for the US-led invasions of the two countries in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, he said care needed to be taken tackling the mounting violence in Afghanistan.

"In any situation, whether in Iraq or Afghanistan, where you are trying to bring about a different form of government, these people will try to stop us," he told reporters.

And, referring to Iraq, he added: "The worry is that we should be careful that Afghanistan is not subject to the same attempts to undermine and collapse the proper support for democracy."

Blair, who is to stand down on June 27 after a decade in office, made his comments as the Red Cross warned that Afghan civilians were paying the price of increasingly bitter fighting between foreign forces and Taliban rebels.

The death toll among international forces in Afghanistan is over 80 so far this year. Last year 191 soldiers involved in the international mission to the war-scarred country were killed.