WASHINGTON, July 30: The White House is indicating a major shift in the US approach to the war against terror, with emphasis now moving from ‘just a military effort’ to an ‘ideological struggle’ in which ‘freedom and democracy are going to be the main tools to defeat the terrorists’.

The latest discussion on the nature of this war began at a Friday afternoon briefing in which a reporter questioned the role President Pervez Musharraf was playing in the fight against terrorism.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan began by praising Gen Musharraf’s role but indicated that he expected the Pakistan leaders to further increase the heat on religious extremists in the coming days.

A Dow Jones wire story on Friday quoted Gen Musharraf as saying that he was not as aggressive against religious terrorists in his country in 2002 as he might have been, because he was facing a threat from India, and he did not have enough international support for his presidency.

Commenting on Mr Musharraf’s statement, Mr McClellan recalled that for decades the US also had ignored what was going on in the Middle East.

“(We) thought we were getting peace and stability in exchange for letting dictators rule in countries throughout the Middle East. Well, we did not get either,” he said.

A reporter reminded Mr McClellan that 1,241 days after Pearl Harbour, Adolph Hitler was dead but 1,417 days after 9/11, Osama Bin Laden was still alive. “We have got a pretty good idea that he is in western Pakistan. Why cannot we get this guy? Is it Mr Musharraf? Who is keeping us from him?” asked the reporter.

Mr McClellan replied that ‘some three-quarters of the Al Qaeda leadership and management structure’ had been destroyed and the rest were being dismantled.