Gates: US Limited Against Extremists

“Let's be honest with ourselves," said US defense secretary addressing rising officers at the National Defense University on Monday, according to AFP.

"The most likely catastrophic threats to our homeland -- for example, an American city poisoned or reduced to rubble by a terrorist attack -- are more likely to emanate from failing states than from aggressor states,” he noted.

"The kinds of capabilities needed to deal with these scenarios cannot be considered exotic distractions or temporary diversions. We do not have the luxury of opting out because they do not conform to preferred notions of the American way of war," he said.

He also advocated greater reliance of "soft power," such as diplomacy and economic influence, over "hard" military power.

"But not every outrage, every act of aggression, every crisis can or should elicit an American military response, and we should acknowledge such," he said in an comment which is in sharp contrast to policies of the hawkish echelons in the White House.

Using all its sophisticated technology the US has failed to capture the so-called al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. A western think-tank in an editorial appeared in Telegraph on Sunday said Washington's failure to capture Bin Ladan has overshadowed George W. Bush's presidency.

The comments come as a Taliban-led insurgency has been on the rise since the 2001 invasion in Afghanistan with most incidents taking place in the south and east, claiming several thousand lives.

The number of dead in the war-torn country has rocketed with the victims including members of the US-led international forces and the Afghan military as well as civilians.