WASHINGTON: The United States may shift the focus of its military operations close to the Pakistani border in eastern Afghanistan, US experts say.

Diplomatic sources in Washington say that General Stanley McChrystal, the US and Nato commander in Afghanistan, has recommended a change of focus in a report he submitted to the Obama administration last week.

Gen McChrystal, who took charge in June, is said to have questioned whether the fight in other regions was as crucial to defeating the insurgency as previously believed.

The United States currently has around 7,000 troops in the east, after Gen McChrystal’s predecessor, Gen David McKiernan, doubled their number. But US policy planners believe they may have to send more troops to this region.

The experts say the Americans are particularly worried about the insurgents’ ability to find sanctuary and support in Fata. They also believe that senior Al Qaeda leaders are hiding in the region, possibly across the border in Waziristan.

This necessitates a change in the US strategy for dealing with the militants, the sources said.

US President Barack Obama also alluded to this change in an address on the 8th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, reminding Americans that the real war was against Al Qaeda and its associates who were busy planning more attacks on the US soil.

‘In defence of our nation we will never waver; in pursuit of Al Qaeda and its extremist allies, we will never falter,’ he vowed, while invoking the memories of a series of terrorist attacks eight years ago.

US military commanders in Afghanistan, while talking to various American media outlets, also emphasised the need for targeting Jalaluddin Haqqani and other insurgent leaders hiding in eastern Afghanistan.

Major Gen Curtis Scaparrotti, a US military commander in eastern Afghanistan, said Mullah Haqqani ‘is the central threat’ in the area and ‘he’s expanded that reach’.

Experts in Washington say the need for redirecting US focus on the east follows a realisation that the Obama administration may not be able to send enough troops to cover the entire country.

Reports in the US media say Gen McChrystal could ask for up to 45,000 additional troops, which would take the number of US forces well above 100,000.

But Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat speaker of the US House of Representatives and a key Obama ally, said at the weekend that she saw ‘no great support for sending more troops to Afghanistan in the country or in the Congress’.

And Chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee Carl Levin advised the administration not to send any more US combat troops to Afghanistan beyond those already approved by President Obama until more Afghan security forces are trained.

Senator Levin said he had conveyed this sentiment to both Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, as well as to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Mr Levin will also meet National Security Adviser Gen Jim Jones and Vice-President Biden next week to discuss his proposal.

Republican lawmakers, however, oppose any move that may weaken US military strength in Afghanistan.

‘Many of the Democrats raising questions about our efforts in Afghanistan are the same voices who declared Gen Petraeus a failure in Iraq before his new strategy even had a chance to succeed. They were wrong then. They are wrong now,’ said House Minority Leader John Boehner.

Senator John McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services panel, said he ‘could not disagree more profoundly’ with Senator Levin on the call to limit troop deployments.

‘If we await the day when the Afghan National Army is increased in size and capable of carrying out all of these operations fully on its own, it may well be too late,’ Mr McCain warned.

‘We will need more US combat forces in Afghanistan, not less or the same amount as we have today,’ he said.