Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Garden (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Thursday, 10 May 2007.

Afghanistan: National Army and Police

Question: My Lords, the United States is reported to be spending $3.4 billion this year on training the police and army in Afghanistan and intends to increase that to $5.9 billion in the year beginning in September. What are the comparable United Kingdom figures and do we also intend to increase our spending in the coming year?

Answer: My Lords, I cannot give the noble Lord the precise breakdown. If we have those figures I will write to him. As he highlights, there has been a real increase in effort by the United States. The primary coalition responsibility for the development of the Afghan national police has been with Germany. It has been recognised that that needs to be supported by an acceleration of new approaches to the training of Afghan police more quickly. Thathas led to the United States putting extra resources into this area. We recognise the importance of the development—as the noble Lord, Lord Astor, said—of the police and the army in order to provide the governance that this country is going to need to allow us to hand over responsibility for security. In terms of the balance of resources, our focus is on supporting, training and developing the army, not the police. Whether we will change that focus is not something I am aware of at present.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 691 c1538
Session: 2006-07
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Army Police Peacekeeping operations Training Afghanistan Military aid
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk