LONDON: The international military mission in Afghanistan has "no end point", the head of Britain''s armed forces told a newspaper out Saturday.

Sir Jock Stirrup''s comments come a week after Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, Britain''s top military commander in the war-torn country, said the public should not expect a "decisive military victory" in Afghanistan.

Stirrup, the chief of the defence staff, told British newspaper that in both Iraq and Afghanistan, British troops were on a "journey that never finishes".

The 58-year-old air chief marshal said the mission in Afghanistan, where Britain has 7,800 troops fighting Taliban insurgents, was not a win or lose battle. Britain''s 4,100 troops in Iraq are likely to leave within a year, Stirrup said, with Iraqi forces "very close" to being able to handle the security situation alone.

However, Afghanistan would be a longer operation, he warned. “Afghanistan is a very backward country (militarily) it''s going to be some years before we finish that project," he said.

Stirrup believes people should change their expectations of what can be achieved in Afghanistan. "We should avoid the use of words like ''win'' and ''lose'' in the context of Afghanistan. It''s not that sort of enterprise," he said.

He said: "These things are more complicated In both cases it''s a journey. If you''re talking about the development of a country, it''s a journey that never finishes. There''s no end point."