KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canada's outgoing military commander in Afghanistan says Canadian and NATO efforts there have helped save the lives of 40,000 children.

And Brig.-Gen. Tim Grant says that's a "conservative estimate."

In an interview with The Canadian Press at the multinational base in Kandahar, Grant said he's handing his successor, Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, a country more "confident" than it was a year ago.

"There's 40,000 babies in Afghanistan more this year than . . . last year," said Grant, whose return to Canada is days away. "That's a big number."

He attributes the success to improvements in health care, which has led to a drop in the region's infant mortality rate.

Grant says the international community helped put a vaccination program in place and increased access to doctors, particularly for women.

Meanwhile, even as Taliban activity remains prevalent in Kandahar province, the level of confidence has surged among the city's inhabitants, he said.

"The town was empty," Grant said of Kandahar 12 months ago. "Now you go there, (it's) like Kandahar City is a successful little town.

"The shops are open, kids going to school, people have gone back to a normal life. We see farmers have returned in large numbers, thousands of people have gone back to live in their homes."

He also said villagers in the Panjwaii district, west of Kandahar City, who fled last year after fierce fighting broke out between insurgents and NATO forces, have returned.

"The streets are full, people are going about their daily lives," Grant said. "Yes there are risks, but people have a sense that the situation is manageable, much better than last year, and its getting better."

Still, Grant's optimism is relative, as Afghanistan remains poverty-stricken and the prey of an insurgency.

At regular intervals, convoys of Canadian soldiers are the target of suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices.

Earlier this week, Grant himself narrowly escaped an attack.

"We do absolutely everything we can to reduce the risks for our soldiers," he said. "There will always be a risk here.

"Soldiers understand that though. Every soldier who is over here realizes that there is a risk with the lifestyle they have chosen."

For Grant, the real break for soldiers will come when Afghans can count on a competent and effective police force of their own.

"The police have to improve to the point where the people have an increased level of confidence in their ability to protect them and not take advantage of them," he said.

"How long it will take? We're talking years in my mind -- two years or 10 years, it's hard to tell. A lot will depend on how much attention we'll turn to the problem.

"In this province (Kandahar), as Canadians, we are shifting our effort to turn resources toward making the police better. We understand clearly they are the last piece of the security puzzle."