New Inquiry: The UK's foreign policy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan

• How appropriate and effective is the UK’s current foreign policy approach towards both Afghanistan and Pakistan?
• How can, and should, UK foreign policy performance and success in Afghanistan and Pakistan be measured?
• How effective is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s contribution to the overall UK Government effort in Afghanistan and Pakistan?
• Drawing on the UK’s recent experience in Afghanistan and Pakistan, are there any broader lessons that could be learned for the UK’s future foreign policy approach to insecure states?

The Committee will hold its first two oral evidence sessions on this inquiry on Wednesday 13 and 20 October.

Call for evidence:

Interested groups or individuals are encouraged to submit written evidence to the inquiry. Written evidence should be received by the Committee no later than Wednesday 6 October 2010.

Oral evidence will begin in October.

View guidance on submitting written evidence.

Form of written evidence:

Each submission should contain the following information:

• a short summary in bullet point form;
• a brief introduction about the person submitting evidence, perhaps explaining their area of expertise;
• any factual information from which the Committee might be able to draw conclusions, or which could be put to other witnesses; and
• any recommendations for action by the Government or others which the submitter would like the Committee to consider for inclusion in its report to the House.

How to format submissions:

Each submission should use:

• numbered paragraphs, and
• MS Word format with as little use of colour/ logos as possible.

Submitting evidence:

Submissions should be sent as an e-mail attachment to foraffcom@parliament.uk and titled ‘The UK’s foreign policy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan Inquiry’. Paper copies may be sent to Foreign Affairs Committee, Committee Office, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA.

Please also note that:

• Material already published elsewhere should not form the basis of a submission, but may be referred to within a proposed submission, in which case a hard copy of the published work should be included.
  
• Written evidence submitted must be kept confidential until published by the Committee, unless publication by the person or organization submitting it is specifically authorised.
  
• Once submitted, evidence is the property of the Committee and no public use should be made of it unless you have first obtained permission from the Clerk of the Committee.
  
• The Committee normally, though not always, chooses to make public the written evidence it receives, by publishing it on the internet (where it will be searchable), by printing it or by making it available through the Parliamentary Archives. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure. The Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.
  
• For data protection purposes, it would be helpful if individuals wishing to submit written evidence send their contact details separately in a covering letter or e-mail. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
  
• Committees are unable to investigate individual cases.
  

Inquiry related questions:

Please contact the Committee on 020 7219 3613 or by email to brownac@parliament.uk

Media enquiries:

Members of the press with enquiries should contact Alex Paterson, Select Committee Media Officer, on 020 7219 1589, or 07917 488488, or by email to patersona@parliament.uk