Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of reports of (a) targeted attacks and (b) instances of (i) forced conversion and (ii) imprisonment of (A) Christians and (B) other religious minorities in Afghanistan; and what recent representations she has made to the authorities in Afghanistan on these matters.

Afghanistan is a focus country in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's (FCDO) freedom of religion or belief approach, announced on 8 July. FCDO officials regularly urge the Taliban to uphold human rights. We also engage directly with a range of Afghans to inform our policy and programmes. The UK Government supports the UN Special Rapporteur's mandate to document abuses, including those targeting religious minorities. Without inclusive governance that reflects Afghanistan's religious, ethnic, gender and cultural diversity, we will never see an Afghanistan at peace with itself and its neighbours.