Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations Dr. Murrison To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many UK (a) citizens and (b) residents have been arrested by (i) British, (ii) International Security Assistance Forces, (iii) American and (iv) Afghan authorities in Afghanistan since 2001. Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 16 June 2009]: No UK nationals suspected of links to the insurgency have been arrested by British forces in Afghanistan since 2001. Since 2004, the number of arrests on a variety of charges and not necessarily specifically linked to insurgency of UK nationals in Afghanistan by Afghan authorities is provided in the following table. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | |Number of arrests1| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2008-09 |4 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2007-08 |4 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2006-07 |3 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2005-06 |3 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2004-05 |2 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |1 From 2004-08 as reported in the Consular Annual Return from the British embassy Kabul and from 2008 as reported from the Consular Assistance Database held by the British Embassy Kabul. Information on arrests prior to 2004 and on arrests made by International Security Assistance or American Forces are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.| | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------