In blunt terms,the Foreign Affairs Select Committee report says Britain's military mission in Afghanistan has failed to deliver what it promised, because troops are being asked to do too many different tasks.

VOA: standard.2009.08.02

The Foreign Affairs Select Committee said the planned 16% budget cuts should be reversed and were a "false economy".

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Last summer the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee said British troops were trying to do too much and had experienced "mission creep".

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Conservative MP Richard Ottaway, who is chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, questioned whether the US president ought to "interfere in the operations of an international overseas company".

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