Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the security situation in the Jowzjan province of Afghanistan.

The security situation in Afghanistan remains challenging. Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice already advises against all travel to Jowzjan Province.

We commend the resilience of the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF) over recent weeks in combating a series of determined insurgent assaults. The Taliban continue to expand their influence in some rural areas and threaten some provincial capitals. However, with US assistance, ANDSF forces have repelled assaults on significant population centres.