British forces too “stretched” to fight wars in Iraq, Afghanistan

By Xinhua,

London : Britain’s Armed Forces were stretched beyond their capabilities and could not continue fighting two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a British newspaper said on Wednesday.


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“We are not structured or resourced to do two of these things on this scale on an enduring basis but we have been doing it on an enduring basis for years,” Chief of the Defense Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup said in the comments reported by The Daily Telegraph.

“Until we get to the stage when one of them comes down to small scale, we will be stretched beyond the capabilities we have,” said Stirrup.

“That is not what we are structured for, nor is it what we plan for. We are very stretched at the moment. Until we get down to one operation at this scale, we are always going to be stretched,” said he.

Stirrup’s comments came as it was confirmed on Tuesday that another British soldier was killed in a firefight with Taliban in southern Afghanistan, taking the death toll to 107 since November 2001.

However, Britain has repeatedly denied that the two wars have left British forces stretched. Last Monday, when U.S. President George Bush paid his final visit to London before leaving office in January next year, Britain announced that it would send 230 more troops to Afghanistan by spring 2009, taking the number of the troops there to 8,030.

Currently, Britain has over 7,800 soldiers based in Afghanistan, and around 4,000 troops in southern Iraq.

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