White House says 'war on terror' tag will stay

President Barack Obama's administration denied on Wednesday dropping the punchy but controversial phrase "global war on terror" for "overseas contingency operation".

There is no administration-wide edict from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) mandating the name change, as claimed in a Washington Post report, officials said. "I am not aware of any communication that I've had on that topic," OMB director Peter Orszag told reporters.

According to the newspaper, the OMB had directed the Pentagon to drop the name coined by president George W. Bush for his battle against extremism after 9/11. For critics, the phrase "global war on terror" was emblematic of an approach that was dangerously broad-brushed and risked alienating the Islamic world.