The 92-year-old We'll Meet Again singer - who travelled as far afield as Burma, Egypt and India for frontline soldiers during the Second World War - questioned why modern chart stars were not going to the same lengths to boost morale.
She told the latest edition of Radio Times: "It's strange that there aren't any special songs for Afghanistan. I don't know what songwriters are doing these days."
Dame Vera continued: "Nowadays a lot of them can't sing unless they've got all their equipment, and it's not easy carting that stuff around in the jungle. When I was touring, it was just me and a pianist loaded onto a truck.
"Once, the sides fell off my mini-piano and soldiers had to leap from the front row and hold it together. I had to sleep in a grass hut and wash in a bucket. No make-up, because it just slid off my face in the heat.
"I couldn't even wear the one evening dress I had with me - bought with a whole year's allowance of clothing coupons - because it turned black with perspiration the moment I put in on."
She said more could be done to boost awareness of what the effort in Afghanistan was achieving.
She added: "In the 1940s, there was a real sense, back at home, that we were 'all in it together'. I don't think there is that sense about the war in Afghanistan and I think it's a shame."
Despite being a pin-up for troops during the Second World War, she told the magazine "I was never a glamour girl".
She added: "I was the girl they left behind, their sister or the girl who lived round the corner. There was never any fancy business from the boys. They were completely respectful, always."