US stops chasing shadows in Afghanistan

US forces in Afghanistan are now focused on destroying remaining pockets of Taliban and al-Qaida resistance, rather than hunting down Osama bin Laden and other individuals.

Recent air strikes have targeted areas where members of bin Laden’s terror network have either re-grouped or stored weapons and ammunition.

‘‘We’re going to stop chasing the shadows of where we thought bin Laden was and focus more on the entire picture of the country,’’ Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem said.

Two people identified as top al-Qaida leaders Abu Hafs and Abu Jafar al-Jaziri are believed to have been killed in recent fighting.

Al-Jaziri was a logistics coordinator for the terrorist network.

A third leader, Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, who ran some of bin Laden’s training camps, has been captured, officials said.

In recent days, American warplanes have struck repeatedly at areas around Khost in eastern Afghanistan’s Paktia province.

‘‘We’re not done there,’’ Stufflebeem said. ‘‘We’re finding stuff, and we’re attacking that stuff.’’

Although the terrorist supporters in the area were ‘‘widely dispersed’’ by the fighting, they are now attempting to re-group. That makes the region ‘‘a more dangerous area than the others right now,’’ Stufflebeem said.

US soldiers, who searching an abandoned complex at Zawar Kili, piled up recovered ammunition near tanks and other heavy weapons and called in an air strike.

The group of soldiers, including special forces and forensic specialists, also found a large number of bodies of suspected al-Qaida members killed in earlier raids, Pentagon officials said.