The Marquess of Lothian – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2015-12-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what information they have on the extent to which Daesh is establishing and consolidating control of territory in Afghanistan, in particular in the east, and what action they plan to take to prevent that.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The Daesh affiliate in Afghanistan and Pakistan which identifies as Islamic State in the Khorasan Province (ISKP) primarily consists of former Taleban. While ISKP has influence in the eastern province of Nangahar, it has not yet demonstrated any national presence. The Taleban see ISKP as a threat and there have been repeated clashes between the two groups in Nangahar. The UK, through our support to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), provides Train, Advise and Assist support to the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces to help them tackle the extremist threat in Afghanistan. Together with our NATO partners we continue to monitor the situation closely.