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Musharraf: Pakistan winning fight against radicals
![]() Musharraf talks to journalists during quake relief efforts earlier this month in Muzaffarabad. RELATED
QUICKVOTEYOUR E-MAIL ALERTSWASHINGTON (CNN) -- The president of Pakistan said Sunday it was highly unlikely his country would have to deal with the kind of terrorist attack that killed 57 people last week in Amman, Jordan. Gen. Pervez Musharraf, speaking on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer," noted there have been no terrorist attacks in Pakistan in more than a year but said it was impossible to say an attack wouldn't occur. "I am reasonably sure that nothing of this sort will happen in Pakistan, hopefully," he asserted. Musharraf, who came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999, was more certain that radical religious parties were unable to take over his country. "That is just not a possibility here," he said. "No radical can take over Pakistan. The results of the last local government election are very, very clear, and everyone understands that." Musharraf cited losses in provincial elections by the religious parties. The "global war on terror" -- a term coined by President Bush -- is being successful against a "small force" of radicals, Musharraf said, "especially in our area in Pakistan and Afghanistan." Following the last assassination attempt against him, Musharraf said, "We have broken most of the gangs, the terrorist organizations." "So they are on the run in the cities; they are almost neutralized," he said. "I think we are succeeding in the mountains also." The president denied accusations by some analysts that Pakistan was not doing enough to help get terrorists out of the high mountain regions. "I don't agree with it at all," he said. "All of Pakistan's intelligence organizations, the armed forces, are totally involved in fighting terrorism." And, he added, "There is no difference of opinion on whatever we are doing" between the Pakistanis and U.S. spy agencies. Musharraf belittled militants, saying they have no strategy and are out of step with the mainstream. "Their thinking is very different to what my thinking or what any moderate country's thinking is, and also, may I say, the thinking of all the Muslim countries also is very different to what these radicals are thinking," he said. "So we shouldn't be too concerned about what the radicals are saying." Regarding the devastating earthquake last month that killed more than 73,000 people and destroyed a half million homes, Musharraf said Pakistan is receiving "reasonable assistance" in its relief efforts but still needs much help in reconstruction and rehabilitation.
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