Afghanistan (Hansard, 31 October 2001)

§ Harry Cohen
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will urge his American counterpart to stop US forces using cluster bombs over Afghanistan. [10788]

§ Mr. Hoon
The cluster bombs used in Afghanistan do not contain anti-personnel landmines and are, therefore, legitimate weapons that have not been prohibited by any treaty or convention. They are used with discretion and 663W proportionality and against legitimate and appropriate terrorist and military targets that are selected with great care.

§ Jeremy Corbyn
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the(a) use of and (b) preparedness to use napalm in Afghanistan of coalition forces. [11448]

§ Mr. Hoon
[holding answer 30 October 2001]: No napalm has been used by coalition forces operating in the Afghanistan region and there are no plans to do so.

§ Harry Cohen
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his policy is on a bombing pause to assist the more effective delivery of humanitarian aid in Afghanistan; and if he will make a statement. [11647]

§ Mr. Hoon
As the UN has made clear, the military campaign as such has not hampered the delivery of assistance in any significant way. We have no plans at present to suspend military activity in Afghanistan in order to facilitate the delivery of aid, not least because a pause in the bombing would simply encourage the Taliban to harass humanitarian supplies more than at present.