'Game over' for Kadhafi: NATO chief

WASHINGTON: The NATO chief said Sunday he was confident that time was running out for Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, despite the prolonged stalemate between his forces and rebels who seek his ouster.

But Anders Fogh Rasmussen also acknowledged the brutal war that has raged for nearly two months would be resolved politically, not militarily.

"The game is over for Kadhafi. He should realize sooner rather than later that there's not future for him or his regime," the NATO secretary-general said in a TV program.

"We have stopped Kadhafi in his tracks. His time is running out. He's more and more isolated."

Given the "wind of change" sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East, the death of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the growing pressure on the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Danish former prime minister said he was "very optimistic" that Kadhafi would ultimately lose his decades-old grip on power.

NATO forces have kept up an air bombing campaign against Libyan military targets since March, but have failed so far to prevent Kadhafi from killing scores of his own people in rebel-held towns and cities -- the stated goal of a UN resolution authorizing the allied mission.

"First of all, we have to realize that there is no military solution. We will need a political solution" to break the stalemate, said Rasmussen. But he also recognized it was "hard to imagine the attacks, the outrageous and systematic attacks against Libyan people, will stop as long as Kadhafi remains in power."

The United States led the bombing campaign in its first week but has since relinquished lead operational control to the transatlantic military alliance. US President Barack Obama has also called for Kadhafi to relinquish power.(AFP)