The top White House counterterrorism adviser says President Barack Obama has refocused US efforts on Afghanistan as "Al Qaeda continues to plot from the tribal regions along the border with Pakistan and inside of Pakistan."

"The President's strategy is unequivocal with regard to our posture," John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism said on Wednesday at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington think tank.