CONSERVATIVE
New Forest East

FOREIGN AFFAIRS – AT-RISK AFGHANS - 26 October 2021

FOREIGN AFFAIRS – AT-RISK AFGHANS - 26 October 2021

Dr Julian Lewis: I realise that the Government can do much more for at-risk Afghan women who have managed to cross the border and are outside the country. One thing they can do for at-risk Afghans who are still in Afghanistan is link the provision of extra aid with their not being persecuted. How explicit are we making that link? How strongly are we exploiting that leverage?

[The Minister for the Middle East and North Africa (James Cleverly): My right hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point. I assure him that we hold the Taliban to their word. They will be judged on their actions, rather than just on what they have said. Clearly, they now find themselves the de facto Government of Afghanistan. We have made it clear that the support from us and the wider international community will be contingent on their behaving in a way that they have said that they intend to behave. We will always base our decisions on Afghanistan on the facts on the ground, not just on the words of Taliban spokespeople.]