"There's unfinished business in this part of the world and we're making every effort here during the coming months to close those efforts out," said Lieutenant General David Barno, the commander of the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.

"And as I tell people for all of the terrorist organizations, it's very clear in my mind, as I look to the future, that the sands in their hourglass is running out," he said in a video conference from Afghanistan with Pentagon reporters.

Barno, who recently predicted that US forces will capture al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden this year, said his entire force was "energized" with the mission of bringing the man behind the September 11 attacks and others to justice.

Pakistani military forces have moved into the tribal areas that lie along the Afghan border over the past few months for the first time in the country's history amid dramatically improved cooperation with US forces, the general said.

"We're moving in the direction of cooperative operations on both sides of the border -- a hammer and anvil approach if you will," Barno said.

"Where al-Qaeda may be driven from the Pakistani side, we're ready to receive them on the Afghan side, and use our forces in concert with Afghan forces on this side of the border to be able to crush the al-Qaeda elements between the Pakistani and coalition forces," he said.

Over the past six to eight weeks, conventional Pakistani military and paramilitary forces have leaned on tribal leaders to root out al-Qaeda and other foreign fighters that have taken refuge in the region, he said.

They are using "enforcement mechanisms" such as home demolitions to ensure that tribal leaders and others comply, he said.

"The fact they are now there, the fact they are confronting the tribal elders and they are holding them accountable for activities in their area, which is a major step forward, is something we're watching with great interest, and there is some cautious optimism that it will have a positive effect," he said.

Barno, who assumed command in Afghanistan in October, also has embarked on what he described as a classic counter-insurgency strategy to smother Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgencies in the violent southern and southeastern parts of the country.

Rather than mount periodic military sweeps in different regions of the country from bases as has been the pattern in the past, Barno said he is basing units in areas of operation in the belief that a continuous presence will yield better intelligence and relations with locals.

"And the units ultimately get great depth of knowledge, understanding and much better intelligence access to the people of those areas by owning, as it were, those chunks of territory," he said.

At the same time, the United States and its allies are expanding provincial reconstruction teams around the country from 11 to 16 by this summer.

The teams, which range in size from 80 to 200 members, combine military, intelligence and humanitarian reconstruction skills.

The military also has set up a pilot project in Kandahar aimed at integrating the military's efforts with those of international developmental agencies and private relief organizations. Afghanistan is supposed to get about 1.5 billion dollars in US reconstruction aid this year.

Barno said the size and strength of the insurgent groups remain "nebulous."

The Taliban, in particular, has opted for small scale attacks directed at civilians, he said. They suffered devasting losses in coalition attacks last August when they massed in larger units.

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