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Afghanistan

Volume 479: debated on Monday 21 July 2008

20. To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent assessment he has made of the security situation in Afghanistan; and if he will make a statement. (219826)

The security situation in Afghanistan is stable if fragile in places—particularly in the south and east of the country.

We need to be clear that Afghanistan is not a safe environment for those seeking to bring it the opportunities and development that it so desperately needs. If it was we would not need the armed forces there to create the security space required for reconstruction and development.

However, we should also be clear that, notwithstanding a number of tragic incidents in the past few weeks, and in the context of a difficult campaign, our military commanders assess that the underlying security dynamics in Afghanistan are slowly improving. In particular Helmand province is a considerably more secure and stable province than it was a year ago.

Regardless of the difficulties ahead—and there will be difficulties—I confidently expect that we will continue to make progress in our vital mission in Afghanistan with both the security and non-security lines of operation of our mission there.