Aid where it’s needed

SIR – General Lord Houghton, the former chief of the defence staff, makes an important point about the strategic imperative of boosting our commitment to defence spending (Comment, June 26).

Elsewhere you report (July 1) that Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, is to propose removing pensions from the defence budget. He should go further and demand that our non-belligerent overseas operations (such as training the Afghan army to fight its own rebels) should be paid for out of our bloated overseas aid budget.

The defence budget should be reserved for its chief purposes of fighting war, re-equipping troops and deterrence. Jeremy MJ Havard

Chichester, West Sussex