UK Foreign Minister Pledges Support To Afghanistan

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has hailed his country’s “vital contribution” to defending and improving Afghanistan on his first 24-hour visit to Kabul.

The top British diplomat visited Afghanistan after a trip to neighboring Pakistan and held meetings with President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, in which he reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to Afghanistan’s stability and prosperity and discussed the Afghan Government’s reform plans.

He has said that his country’s military support and education efforts in Afghanistan are helping to tackle terrorism at its source.

He visited the Afghan National Army Officer Academy to meet British military trainers, and Kabul University where the British Council is supporting education and cultural projects.

The British Foreign Secretary said:

” Afghanistan is an amazing country and I’m incredibly proud of the world that the UK is doing here to challenge extremism and terrorism, promote democracy and human rights and support the Afghan Government’s reform plans.

“British military trainers are improving the ability of the Afghan military to stabilise the country and respond to extremism, and our development works means girls are defying extremists by going to school and university. Our work also means that terrorism is increasingly tackled at source.

“Hundreds of British men and women continue to work here for noble reasons, in often highly dangerous circumstances, and we continue to owe them a huge debt of gratitude for the vital contribution that they are making.”

Mr. Johnson also went to the British Cemetery in Kabul to pay his personal tribute at a memorial to the 456 UK servicemen and women who lost their lives in Afghanistan since 2001.

This visit to Afghanistan followed his visit to Islamabad. In both capitals, the Foreign Secretary encouraged constructive regional cooperation, to tackle both the short term response to significant numbers of returnees to Afghanistan, but also in the long-term, to bring about the vital development and security needed in the region.