To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many of his Department’s personnel are in each province of Afghanistan; what role they are playing in each province; and if he will make a statement. (162516)

The UK employs a broad range of staff in support of the Government of Afghanistan to help develop a stable and secure Afghanistan. Over one hundred civilian staff in Kabul and over thirty staff in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar are employed from across the Government, including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for International Development and the Afghanistan drugs inter-departmental unit. Their roles include work in governance, reconstruction and development, and counter-narcotics.