To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the six provinces of Afghanistan for which the UK has responsibility for provincial reconstruction. [123965]

There are five provinces that will be covered by the UK Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) based in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif. These are Balkh, Faryab, Jowzjan, Samangan and Sar-ePol.The PRT will not be directly responsible for provincial reconstruction, but will aim to help the Afghan effort to improve the security environment as well as facilitating Security Sector Reform (SSR) and reconstruction efforts.