Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the level of threats from IS-K towards religious minorities in Afghanistan in winter 2022-23.

The UK monitors the terrorist threat from Afghanistan, including from ISKP, and regularly presses the Taliban to protect religious minority groups. We are working closely with international partners to ensure credible monitoring and accountability mechanisms are in place. The UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) mandate was renewed in March 2022 and strengthens these mechanisms through direct engagement with religious minority groups. On 7 October, we co-sponsored a Human Rights Council resolution to extend the UN Special Rapporteur's mandate for another year. His recent report to the Human Rights Council included an assessment of the situation for religious minority groups.