WASHINGTON: The United States has said that US forces will not target Mullah Umar and other Taliban leaders until they pose a direct threat to US after Jan 2.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told in a news briefing, “Being a member of the Taliban doesn’t mean that the United States is going to prosecute operations against you for that reason alone.”

He also drew lines between combatant and non-combatant Taliban by saying, “those who continued to fight would not be spared.”

Earlier on Friday President Barack Obama assured that the American nation that he would fulfill his pledge to end the US-led war in Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

“And in less than two weeks, after more than 13 years, our combat mission in Afghanistan will be over,” he said.

However, he has authorised this force to fight the militants if they posed a direct threat to them or caused a major threat to official Afghan forces.

Mullah Omar was Afghanistan’s head of state from 1996 until the US forced him from power in 2001. He has been on the State Department’s Rewards for Justice programme since Oct 2001, for harbouring Osama bin Laden and other terrorists. The reward for his capture is $10 million.