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Afghanistan: UK Forces

My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating the Statement. It was certainly needed, because of the printed media, television and radio coverage over the weekend. From this side of the House, I entirely endorse the sympathies that we all have for the families of Corporal Thorpe and Lance Corporal Hashmi, together with the family of their interpreter. I hope that the five injured service personnel have a full and speedy recovery. The Afghan operation received support from all round this House when it was announced. This weekend has clearly demonstrated concerns that a number of people rightly had about how hazardous it was going to be. We may well be faced with other sad stories ahead. Many of us know the financial pressures that the MoD is under and we have just heard that this money does not necessarily come out of day-to-day budgets. Will the Minister confirm that, should our Armed Forces make a request for additional resources, they will receive not simply what they can get by with but what they absolutely need? We all know that our services have a culture of ““can do, will do””, whether they are fully resourced or not. On this occasion, we must take that into account even more. Finally, are steps being taken with the Government of Pakistan to see what they are going to do to further secure their borders? That is clearly a serious element of this operation.