To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent assessment he has made of the security threat posed by the Taliban in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. (309737)

[holding answer 11 January 2010]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Bill Rammell) to the hon. Member for Reigate (Mr. Blunt) on 11 January 2010, Official Report, column 740W.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many troops were stationed in Afghanistan in each year between 2006 and 2009. (316276)

The following table shows the number of personnel endorsed for Afghanistan between 2006 and 2009.

The Afghanistan figures represent the endorsed troop levels at the given time.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the effect was on the operation of the Afghan air bridge of recent severe weather conditions in the UK. (316921)

Delivery of the strategic airbridge was challenging but successful during the period of severe weather in January 2010. Some aircraft were diverted from RAF Brize Norton or pre-positioned at East Midlands airport.

In spite of the closure of RAF Brize Norton from late on 5 January 2010 until 8 January 2010, the utilisation of additional resources and the inherent flexibility in airbridge passenger tasking ensured that outbound passengers were re-allocated to the next available aircraft departing from either Brize Norton or East Midlands airport. The airbridge continued through the period of severe weather with minimal overall disruption.