Oral Answers to Questions

John Baron Excerpts

Monday 19th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Peter Luff]

I do not know how often one has to say this: no expenditure at the Atomic Weapons Establishment is being incurred to enable a new warhead; it is to sustain the security of the existing stockpile. I do wish the hon. Lady would get this into her head: no money is being spent on new warheads.

[Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

T9. The Secretary of State will understand the significance of the fact that only 3% of Afghan security forces are from the Pashtun south, particularly when it comes to how successful our handover will be in 2014. What progress is being made to improve the imbalance in ethnicities before our troops withdraw?

[Mr Hammond]

My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to that continuing issue. The Pashtun percentage in the ANSF is very much higher than 3%, but he is right that Pashtun recruits tend to be northern rather than southern. The ANSF has strategies to address that, and the situation is slowly improving, but it remains one of the important issues that has to be addressed if we are to create a stable and sustainable Afghan Government.