Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to work with his international counterparts on ensuring that the Afghanistan government continues to maintain security in sparsely populated areas of that country following the withdrawal of international troops.

The International Security Assistance Force's (ISAF) combat mission will end this year and the Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) will assume full responsibility for security across Afghanistan. The UK and our international partners have committed to providing long-term support to the Afghan Government, including continued development of the ANSF, as part of the follow-on Resolute Support Mission. This is subject to the necessary legal permissions being in place before the end of this year. The UK is also contributing an additional £70 million per year until 2017 towards ANSF sustainment.