NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer wants Canada to stay in Afghanistan past 2009, despite polls showing a drop in support for the mission -- especially in Quebec.

Speaking in Montreal on Thursday, de Hoop Scheffer said the mission is still backed by most Afghans, who want all 26 NATO allies to help them rebuild their country.

"Do not forget that we are the guests of the Afghan government. They are running their country and we are helping them," he said.

"And do not forget that the NATO mission is still supported by a large majority of the Afghan people. Every time I come there, they ask me, 'Please, secretary-general, make your forces stay.' That is why I attach such great importance to our endurance, to our patience."

The Canadian military death toll has reached 60, after three soldiers were killed by a landmine explosion on Wednesday. A Canadian diplomat has also died in the country.

But de Hoop Scheffer wants all 26 NATO allies to keep up their missions. Canadian military operations are set to expire in February 2009.

"I would hope, given the fact that I think more time is necessary to create those conditions for reconstruction and development to go on and proceed, that that will not be the end of it," he said.

"And that is a message to the Canadians as much as to the Dutch or the Danes or to the Norwegians. It's a message I have for all my allied friends."

A recent survey by Leger Marketing suggested most Quebec respondents opposed sending 2,000 troops from CFB Valcartier to Afghanistan this summer.

The base is located near Quebec City. So far, the majority of soldiers killed in Afghanistan have been based outside of Quebec.

De Hoop Scheffer said he wanted to visit the soldiers in Quebec City on Friday.

"I know how dramatic it is if Canadian soldiers pay the highest price," he said.

"But I still say, you are there for a good cause.... you are there to defend basic universal values."

A ramp ceremony was held Thursday at Kandahar Airfield, to honour the three Canadian soldiers killed this week.

Cpl. Stephen Frederick Bouzane, Pte. Joel Vincent Wiebe and Sgt. Christos Karigiannis died when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb.

Col. (ret'd) Michel Drapeau, a military analyst, said the deaths of comrades have hit Canadian troops hard, but they will not lose focus in their job.

"I think the Canadian Forces, as a professional force, will sustain the mission, at least until it comes to an end, which at the moment is February 2009," he told CTV's Mike Duffy Live.

"The fact that we have lost three very gallant and very brave men yesterday, must not in any way diminish their resolve, their sense of professionalism, their sense of commitment to the mission. They are professionals; they will continue."