Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Afghan counterpart on the (a) security situation in the province of Jowzjan and (b) killing of International Committee of the Red Cross workers on 8 February 2017.

I discussed the security situation in Afghanistan when I met the Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister, Hekmat Karzai, on 8 February. I reassured Mr Karzai of the UK's continued commitment to Afghanistan.

The Government strongly condemns the attack on members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Jowzjan Province. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families. We call for the safe release of the two members of the team who were abducted in the attack. The Secretary of State for International Development, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel), has written to the President of the ICRC to offer our condolences.