Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the required budget of the Afghan security forces from 2015; and what contribution the UK will make. [136236]

Mr Robathan, Minister of State for Defence: The initial annual budget will be $4.1 billion. We believe this will be sufficient for the force levels required and it will be reviewed regularly against the developing security environment. At the 2012 Chicago summit, the UK announced an annual contribution of £70 million towards this total, which is in addition to maintaining our current development assistance of £178 million a year.

As the Afghan economy and the revenues of the Afghan Government grow, Afghanistan's yearly share will increase progressively from at least US$500 million in 2015, with the aim that it can assume, no later than 2024, full financial responsibility for its own security forces. In the light of this, during this so called ‘Transformation Decade’ we expect international donors will be able to reduce their financial contributions commensurate with the Afghan Government taking over financial responsibility.

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