The US has turned to radio stations and cell phones in its alleged fight against militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan, after realizing that it is losing the war.

The US State Department says it is establishing a new unit for what it calls countering militant propaganda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

The unit will be given up to $150 million a year to spend on local FM radio stations and on cell phone service to battle for the hearts and minds of the natives of the two Asian countries.

The move is aimed at denigrating militants and their messages by producing audio and video programming, as wells as pamphlets, posters and CDs.

“Concurrent with the insurgency is an information war,” said Richard C. Holbrooke, the US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, who will direct the effort. “We are losing that war.”

“The Taliban have unrestricted, unchallenged access to the radio, which is the main means of communication,” he added.

“We can't succeed, however you define success, if we cede the airways to people who present themselves as false messengers of a prophet, which is what they do. And we need to combat it," the US envoy said.

Holbrooke arrived in the Pakistani capital city of Islamabad on Saturday for a three-day stay to discuss a range of economic and security issues with Pakistani officials.

Afghan civilians remain the main victims of the notorious war about eight years after the US invaded Afghanistan to allegedly destroy the militancy and arrest militant leaders including Osama bin Laden.

The number of Afghan civilians killed either in US-led 'counterinsurgency operations', particularly indiscriminate air raids, or Taliban attacks has surpassed 1,000 in the first half of 2009, according to the UN.

MGH/ZAP/DT