G8 countries called Tuesday on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to make swift reforms and clamp down on terrorism, saying a heavy price had been paid to bring stability to the war-torn nation. 'All of us have invested heavily and at considerable cost in lives in helping Afghanistan to build a peaceful and stable state that will never again become a haven for terrorists,' Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told G8 ministers during a two-day meeting here. Canada has 2,800 troops deployed in Afghanistan, and has lost 141 soldiers in the eight-year-old war. Echoing US President Barack Obama's calls for faster progress, Harper said the time had come for Afghanistan to live up to its commitment to restore peace and prosperity for its people. 'The Afghan government must continue to assume greater responsibility for its own security, while providing basic services and good governance as President Karzai promised in London,' Harper said, referring to talks in January. Obama said on US television: 'I think that the progress is too slow, and what we've been trying to emphasize is the fierce urgency of now.' The US president made the comment Tuesday on the heels of a surprise trip to the country where he asked Karzai to make greater efforts to tackle corruption and the rampant drug trade that has been blamed for providing financial backing to Islamic militants. In Gatineau, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said there was cause for 'optimism and caution' in Afghanistan, saying that civilian and military gains needed to be politically sustained in the longer term. 'I think the situation in Afghanistan... is cause for both optimism and caution. On the optimism side, I believe that we are employing a strategy that is working,' Clinton explained, citing recent military gains in southwest Afghanistan, and the convergence of development and reconstruction experts into the area in the immediate aftermath. 'The caution is, of course, for sustainable progress and development that leads to stability,' she said. 'There has to be a political element that will lead to a resolution of the conflict.' Striking a tone of impatience at the meeting, G8 ministers said they expected Karzai to clarify his government's 'vision for the country' at an Afghan conference in Kabul in May. The new pressure from chief diplomats from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States came as a UN report said more than a third of Afghans are living in abject poverty, as those in power are more concerned about their own interests than the basic needs of the population. 'Abuse of power is a key driver of poverty in Afghanistan. Vested interests frequently shape the public agenda, whether in relation to the law, policy or the allocation of resources,' said the report compiled by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The G8 ministers urged Karzai to outline 'bold' moves to deliver on promises he made in January. 'The government of Afghanistan should take concrete and transparent steps to deliver on its commitments... to ensure the integrity of parliamentary elections in 2010,' the ministers said. They called on Karzai to 'undertake electoral reforms' and 'actively pursue comprehensive rule of law reform' and 'take concrete and transparent steps' to combat corruption. On Monday, foreign ministers announced an initiative to support trade and border infrastructure projects along the volatile Afghanistan-Pakistan border. In February, NATO-led troops launched their biggest offensive in southern Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Another major offensive is planned for June in Kandahar. The moves are seen as the first real tests in Obama's military strategy to restore stability there. The Gatineau talks on global security -- overshadowed by Monday's coordinated suicide bombings in Moscow's subway -- were to set the stage for G8 and G20 leaders' summits in Muskoka, Ontario and Toronto in June. 