The US military plans to use more drone aircraft to target Taliban militants in Afghanistan while focusing less on hunting down al-Qaeda figures, the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday.
Although defeating the al-Qaeda terror network remains an overriding goal for Washington, officials now believe the best way to pursue that objective is to ensure stability in Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan instead of al-Qaeda manhunts, the paper said, citing US government and Defence Department officials.
It was more important to prevent a slide towards violence and anarchy that could be exploited by al-Qaeda, which used Afghanistan to stage its attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, the officials said.
"We might still be too focused on Bin Laden," an official told the Times. "We should probably reassess our priorities."
The shift in priorities for the drone fleet comes despite President Barack Obama's declaration that defeating and dismantling al-Qaeda is the primary goal of his strategy for the Afghan war.
Eight drones that have been devoted to tracking al-Qaeda in remote Afghan mountains will be transferred to the fight against insurgents, the paper said.
And the US Central Command plans to send about 12 more drones to the Afghan front, including some aircraft that have been assigned to Iraq -- a move resisted by US commanders there.
The drones are in high demand and the military faces difficult choices in deciding how best to deploy the aircraft, which are in short supply.
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