Afghanistan (Hansard, 7 February 2002)

§ Dr. Tonge
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his US counterparts regarding the treatment of al-Qaeda prisoners captured in Afghanistan. [28339]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
We are in close contact with the US as the detaining power. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary raised the treatment of those detained by the US in Afghanistan with Colin Powell during his visit to Washington on 31 January and 1 February, and again made it clear that detainees should be treated humanely 1071W and in accordance with international norms. The US authorities have said that the detainees are being treated humanely and consistently with the principles of the Geneva Convention.

§ Joan Ruddock
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many people in his Department worked on Afghanistan in(a) 1999, (b) 2000, (c) 2001 and (d) January 2002; and on what tasks and in which policy areas they were deployed. [33762]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
[holding answer 5 February 2002]: FCO staff working on core Afghanistan-related issues in 1999, 2000, 2001 and January 2002 were four, four, between 19 to 30 and 24 respectively. The staff were working mainly on political and economic matters.
An additional 235 FCO staff worked at various times on a variety of crisis-related work between 11 September and the end of 2001. This figure does not include staff already in the relevant front-line geographical and functional department. It is not possible to give a precise number given the cross-cutting nature of the crisis and the breadth of the FCO's response to it.

§ Miss McIntosh
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with his European counterparts on the future of Afghanistan. [34004]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary maintains regular dialogue with his European counterparts on the future of Afghanistan. He met EU Foreign Ministers on 28 January at the General Affairs Council in Brussels, and is attending an informal meeting of EU Foreign Ministers on 8–9 February in Caceres, Spain.