'Britain's stretched army cannot continue to fight on two fronts', army chief admits as Afghanistan death toll hits 108

Britain cannot continue to fight two wars on the scale of Iraq and Afghanistan indefinitely, the head of the armed forces warned yesterday.

Chief of Defence Staff Sir Jock Stirrup claimed the conflicts were stretching UK military capabilities to near breaking point.

His stark warning came as it was announced that a second British paratrooper had been killed in Afghanistan just a few hours after another was shot down by the Taliban.

The latest casualty, a soldier from the 4th Battalion the Parachute Regiment, was killed while he checked for mines in the Upper Sangin Valley yesterday afternoon.

Hours earlier in the same area of Helmand province, a soldier from the 2nd Battalion of the same regiment was fatally wounded in a firefight with insurgents.

Their deaths continue one of the most bloody phases in the conflict. In total, 11 soldiers have now died this month - seven of them paratroopers.

In a stark assessment of the pull on resources from the missions in the two countries,Sir Jock said: '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.

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

Sir Jock was careful not to use the term 'overstretch'.

However, It is the first time the most senior officer in the British military has expressed such grave doubts about the struggle faced by servicemen and women fighting on two fronts.

In addition, he demanded that forces families receive preferential treatment on the NHS and priority in school admissions in return for the sacrifice they made for the country.

'It is another cliche in the military that you recruit the man or the woman but you retain the family,' he said. 'And there is a lot of truth in that.'

'My objective is to see first of all as an absolute starting point that there is a level playing field for our people.'

Four black hearses carry the bodies of Corporal Sarah Bryant of the Intelligence Corps, Corporal Sean Robert Reeve of the Royal Signals Lance Corporal Richard Larkin and Paul Stout

He went on: 'Actually, they should be treated a little bit better because of the service they give to their country and the sacrifices they make to their country.'

Sir Jock said that although Britain would be involved in  Afghanistan for decades in order to drag what he called a 'medieval' state into the modern world, a military presence would only be needed for 'some years'.

His comments came as it was announced another British soldier has been killed in a firefight with the Taliban in Afghanistan, taking the UK death toll in the country to 107.

The Government insists that the armed forces are not overstretched but opposition MPs said Sir Jock's blunt remarks have unmasked the true extent of UK military commitments overseas.

There are 4,000 British troops in Iraq, with no clear timetable for withdrawal, and numbers in Afghanistan will soon exceed 8,000.

The outburst echoes comments last May, when Sir Jock told MPs that the military was 'very stretched' by the two wars, and warned: 'In the not-too-distant future we need something to change.'

Sir Richard Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff, has already claimed that the ongoing operations could 'break' the Army.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown walks with Sir Jock Stirrup late last year

The Lib Dems defence spokesman Nick Harvey said Sir Jock had been  'admirably straightforward' about overstretch'. 'We are simply not geared up for two operations on this scale,' he said.

Patrick Mercer, a Tory MP and former Army colonel, added: 'The message from the CDS is clear - our forces are overstretched and are finding it close to impossible to sustain the numbers they are being required to.'

The air chief marshal insisted that British troops are well-equipped and insisted that Britain has made 'considerable progress in  Iraq'.

But he admitted that Afghanistan 'looks considerably messier than Iraq does at the moment' as the West tried to solve a 'mammoth problem'.

He said: 'This is not something that could be done in one, two or three years because we are talking about a country that is essentially medieval, that has very little in the way of infrastructure, very little in the way of human resource, that has an endemic culture of corruption.'

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: 'It is true that the United Kingdom’s Armed Forces are working very hard and we recognise that this cannot go on for ever. The British Armed Forces are very stretched, but not yet ‘overstretched.  

'The risks and challenges are considerable, and the Armed Forces’ performance has been outstanding  and we continue to invest in our personnel, equipment, training and logistic support to ameliorate this impact.'