Britain's military will be limited to handling only additional small-scale contingency operations in the near term as a result of the effect of prolonged operations in ­Afghanistan.

The Defense Ministry is presently circulating internal guidance--some of which is classified--intended to provide planning and procurement support through the period until a Strategic Defense Review is completed in around 12-18 months.

"What it's attempting to do is give the department [Defense Ministry] some direction over the coming period," Bill Jeffrey, the permanent undersecretary for defense, told the Parliament's Defense Committee last week.

"The outcome of a defense review could be a year away from now, depending on how quickly the government manages to do it. . . . It's intended to give the Defense Ministry in essence some interim guidance in the meantime, which in particular highlights the importance of the effort in Afghanistan."

The ministry is struggling with operational and funding pressures. The commitment of 9,500 personnel in Afghanistan, and all that entails, along with an over heating procurement program is causing considerable difficulty. In the case of the long-procurement program, the shortfall in resources is being compounded by the continuing impact of the economic downturn in the U.K.

The policy paper asserts: "We have to balance the cost of the defense program and the likely budget. We will need to be better at spending the money we have and more rigorous in prioritizing what we spend it on. There will be tough choices ahead."

While the "Strategy For Defense" paper is unclassified, it does note that: "Detailed, classified direction on implementation of the strategy is being provided separately to those responsible for delivery, including planning, programming and finance staffs."

The paper makes it abundantly clear that support for the Afghanistan operation has funding priority, with implications for the broader military procurement program in the near term.

"We must focus intensely on the next five years--i.e., the period to 2014--as a realistic timeframe in which to see real improvement in the balance between the department's [Defense Ministry's] program and the resources available."

"Resource allocation other than for Afghanistan should be concentrated on providing those forces most likely to be needed for small-scale overseas contingency operations over this period, particularly to deal with terrorist threats and to be able to conduct emergency evacuation of U.K. nationals from crisis locations," the policy paper adds.