British diplomats in six locations around the world, including Buenos Aires and Santiago in South America, will no longer get hardship payments for working in dangerous cities.

Bonuses and respite breaks are granted to those working in cities considered risky, like Beirut in Lebanon, or with high crime, such as Pretoria in South Africa, or high air pollution in cities including New Delhi and Beijing.

The UK government has removed Santiago, in Chile, Panama City in Panama, Pyongyang in North Korea, Bamako in Mali, and Sarajevo in

UN officials believe their presence in Afghanistan makes a difference, however limited. They point to progress on issues such as the treatment of prisoners, their detailed discussions on the harsh implementation of the morality code known as the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, as well as efforts to improve humanitarian access.

"Engagement is slow, progress is incremental, and reversals are frequent," is the UN's sober summary of the past five years of on-off dialogue.

But it still insists it needs to stay the