Defence Secretary Des Browne has denied that senior military officers have urged the Government to withdraw troops from Iraq to concentrate on the campaign in Afghanistan.
Mr Browne said there was "no division" between ministers and commanders and dismissed reports that there were internal debates among military chiefs over the deployment of 7,500 soldiers in Iraq.
A report in the Guardian newspaper claimed that officers wanted to see an "early and significant cut" in the deployment in the south of the country.
It quoted an unidentified defence source as saying: "There is a group within the Ministry of Defence pushing hard to get troops out of Iraq to get more into Afghanistan.
Mr Browne told BBC Radio 4's The World at One: "It is not true that senior military officers have been pressing the Government to withdraw British troops from Iraq, that's not the case.
"My view, and military commanders share this view, is that we have a vital job to do in Iraq. We have a responsibility to the Iraqi people."
He added: "There is no division between us and military commanders about what we are doing at the moment and we are doing a very good job there and we ought to be enormously proud of our troops there."
Mr Browne was speaking from Slovenia following an announcement that 12,000 US troops involved in Operation Enduring Freedom - an offensive mission separate to the Nato deployment - would come under Nato control.
The US decision to place more than half its forces in Afghanistan under British Nato commander Lieutenant General David Richards gives the alliance a total of 32,000 soldiers.
Currently Britain has nearly 5,000 troops in Afghanistan - including 3,600 in Helmand - with 900 more on the way.
