Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions her predecessor had with his counterparts in Pakistan and other neighbouring countries to establish safe routes out of Afghanistan, prior to August 2021.

Between 23 August 2019 and 18 August 2021 the previous Foreign Secretary and Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon met or contacted their counterparts from Afghanistan's neighbours over fifty times to discuss Afghanistan and to advance the Government's priorities in relation to that country. Key engagements for the previous Foreign Secretary included: on 28 June 2021 participating in the Global Coalition Against DAESH Ministerial Meeting in Italy; and on 29 June 2021 meeting with India's Minister of External Affairs Jaishankar and Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu. For Lord Ahmad, these included: meeting External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary Shringla, Justice Minister Prasad and Home Minister Reddy during a visit to India between 14 and 20 March 2021; meeting Prime Minister Khan and Foreign Minister Qureshi during a visit to Pakistan between 23 and 24 June 2021; and meeting Uzbek Foreign Minister Kamilov during a visit to Tashkent on 15 and 16 July 2021.