Afghanistan

Hamish Falconer Excerpts

Thursday 31st October 2024 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Hamish Falconer)]

Today, I am updating the House on the efforts the UK Government have made to support those most in need in Afghanistan. The future of this country continues to matter to the UK due to the risk of terrorism, illegal migration, the humanitarian and food security crisis, and appalling human rights situation, particularly for women and girls.

Afghanistan remains in humanitarian crisis. According to the United Nations, over 23 million people—more than half the population—require humanitarian assistance in 2024. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has provided support to the most vulnerable and marginalised people in Afghanistan. In financial year 2023-24, we provided a total of £113.5 million in overseas development assistance to Afghanistan. All UK funding was channelled through UN agencies, non-governmental organisations and the Red Cross Movement. Through these partnerships last year, the UK Government supported access to humanitarian assistance for more than 2.7 million people, including providing assistance to prevent malnutrition to at least 1.5 million people. The UK also helped more than 1.4 million people, of whom over 1 million were women, to access essential health services. We aim to ensure that more than 50% of people reached with UK assistance are women or girls.

The Government have repeatedly condemned the Taliban’s repressive policies and behaviour. However, like many of our allies, we maintain a limited and pragmatic dialogue with the Taliban where it is in our national interest to do so. This process was started by the previous Conservative Government. This engagement does not represent legitimisation of the Taliban’s actions. We will continue to hold the Taliban to account for their actions, including on the rights of women and girls, counter terrorism, human rights and maintaining humanitarian aid access.

Government officials have engaged with the Taliban to help protect the operating space for humanitarian partners in Afghanistan, pressing on priority issues such as counter-terrorism and human rights, including the rights of women and girls. We have consistently underlined the need to ensure that women continue to play an active role in the humanitarian response to the crisis in Afghanistan, and can safely access assistance and provide feedback on the quality and appropriateness of the response. We will continue to push the Taliban on this issue, and ensure women and girls remain at the heart of our aid response.

Beyond immediate humanitarian needs, the UK Government are working with the international community to support longer-term basic services for the Afghan people, including health, education and livelihoods. Through our bilateral programmes, in 2023-24, at least 83,000 children, including 54,000 girls, were supported to access education and at least 466,000 children, including 310,000 girls, were fully immunised. In February 2024, with strong UK support, the World Bank Board endorsed the provision of grant finance from the World Bank’s International Development Association to Afghanistan. This funding, to which the UK Government contribute, will deliver further health, livelihoods and education programming in Afghanistan through the World Bank’s Afghanistan resilience trust fund.

Through newly approved UK funding we will scale up livelihoods and agriculture programming to support vulnerable Afghans to grow more food, improve their income, and be more resilient to climate change, helping tackle the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan in more sustainable ways. New UK investments in health and education, with a focus on women and girls, support wider goals to champion rights, equality and a healthier world.

In August, the Taliban passed a “vice and virtue” law imposing wide-ranging restrictions on Afghan women, men and children and the media, including effectively removing women from public spaces. The laws have attracted widespread international condemnation. As the Foreign Secretary has said, the exclusion of women from all aspects of public life is another tragic setback for Afghanistan and its people. Officials have directly pressed the Taliban to reverse this law and, alongside like-minded international partners, have lobbied senior Taliban officials emphasising that we consider the law a grotesque backwards step. We have also condemned the law publicly through the UN, including the Human Rights Council. We will continue to raise our serious concerns and press for the reversal of these restrictions.

We continue to engage with Afghan women and are committed to providing platforms for Afghan women to speak out, advocate for their full inclusion in society, and promote their rights. In August, the Minister for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan hosted a group of senior Afghan women leaders to hear their perspectives and discuss the inclusion of women in Afghanistan’s future political process. In September, the Minister delivered a speech to the All Afghan Women Summit in Tirana, emphasising the UK Government’s continued support to Afghanistan and solidarity with Afghan women.

In September, the Afghan embassy in London closed following the dismissal of its staff by the state of Afghanistan. This decision was not made by the UK Government. In line with international law, specifically the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations, Afghanistan is responsible for the appointment and termination of staff at its embassies. The FCDO recognises that the closure will create challenges for Afghan citizens in the UK who require consular services.

We continue to work constructively with parties inside and outside of Afghanistan for an Afghanistan at peace with itself, its neighbours, and the international community.

[HCWS179]