It described the strategy as a blend of rival proposals put forward by Vice President Joe Biden and by the top military commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal.

"We are no longer thinking about just destroying the enemy in a conventional way," an unidentified senior military officer told the newspaper, saying that the central tenet of McChrystal's proposal would be adopted.

The strategy would focus US forces on some 10 major population centers in Afghanistan, while in the rest of the country surveillance drones and local informants would guide US attacks on the insurgents.

The military officer said McChrystal wants the most expansive definition of population centers to include fertile valleys and economic belts, as well as major roadways, and has briefed Obama's advisers on how he would deploy troops under the new approach.

The general would send the first two combat brigades to the south, including one to Kandahar. A third would go to eastern Afghanistan and a fourth would be used flexibly across the nation, said the military officer.

A US combat brigade consists of about 4,500 troops.

The Times said Obama, who has summoned the Joint Chiefs of Staff to a White House meeting Friday, had not made a decision yet, but the debate was no longer over whether to send more troops but over how many and how they would be used.

McChrystal had asked for more than 40,000 troops to carry out his strategy, while Biden had opposed a major troop buildup and instead called for narrowing the mission on fighting Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan with drones and special operations forces.

It's "McChrystal for the city, Biden for the country," an administration official told the newspaper, requesting anonymity.

At the heart of the strategy, The New York Times said, "is the conclusion that the United States cannot completely eradicate the insurgency in a nation where the Taliban is an indigenous force, nor does it need to in order to protect American national security.

"Instead, the focus would be on preventing Al-Qaeda from returning in force while containing and weakening the Taliban long enough to build Afghan security forces that would eventually take over the mission."

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