Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to aid Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis during the winter months.

The UK has been at the forefront of efforts to address the situation, working with the UN Security Council, the G20, the G7 and countries in the region. The Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and other Ministers have all been working extensively with world leaders.

In August 2021, the Prime Minister announced that the UK would double its assistance for Afghanistan to £286 million this financial year, and we have now disbursed over £145 million. That will support over 3.4 million people in Afghanistan and the region, providing emergency food, healthcare, shelter, water and protection. We are working at pace to allocate the remaining funding in response to the crisis and the new UN appeal. I thank the British people for donating to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal launched in December, which has raised a total of £28 million so far, including £10 million provided by the UK Government through the UK Aid Match scheme.