WASHINGTON, June 10: The top US military officer says the Pentagon is scrambling to find trainers to send to Afghanistan, which will be difficult until commanders reduce US troop numbers in Iraq.

The quandary has left US military leaders short in a region where they believe the next terror attack against the United States would form.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday the mountainous region along the Afghan-istan-Pakistan border, where Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is thought to be hiding, is the centre of planning for another strike. Stemming that threat will depend largely on US efforts to train Pakistan's military to fight along the border. Trainers are critical for those jobs, experts say.

“My top priority is for trainers (in Afghanistan) right now, and I'm pressing the system very hard to see if we can generate any additional trainers for that requirement,” Mullen told journalists at a breakfast meeting. “Then after that it would be combat forces.”

With more than 150,000 US forces still fighting in Iraq, Admiral Mullen must wait for Gen David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, to determine the extent of additional troop withdrawals.—AP