President Pervez Musharraf has said that terrorism has been eliminated from Pakistan, but added that extremism still prevailed in the country and efforts were on to eradicate it.
Addressing the Pakistani community here, Musharraf was quoted by The News as saying that Islamabad's ties with New Delhi were presently deadlocked because of acts of terror.
Pakistan, he said, is desirous of having good relations with India.
Meanwhile, in a separate though related development, CIA chief General (retired) Michael Hayden has warned that the Al-Qaeda is an intelligent and resilient enemy, and has the potential to launch many catastrophes, if not checked.
Responding to the threats of Al-Qaeda's number two leader Zayman Al-Zawahiri that Western interests in the Gulf and Israel could be the Al-Qaeda's next targets, General Hayden said the terrorist network could never be underestimated in spite of it losing 5,000 of its cadre in the last five years.
"In five years, more than 5,000 terrorists have been captured or killed. The Al-Qaeda's core operational leadership has been decimated, but their successors are in hiding or on the run," General Hayden told CIA employees in Langley Virgina.
In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow said that the trail of Osama bin Laden has not gone "stone cold" and the United States would never stop looking for the Al-Qaeda chief.
{{/usCountry}}In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow said that the trail of Osama bin Laden has not gone "stone cold" and the United States would never stop looking for the Al-Qaeda chief.
{{/usCountry}}"That's just wrong. That's just flat wrong. The fact is that although we're not at liberty to go into sources and methods, we have never stopped looking for (Osama) bin Laden and will not until we have found him and dealt with him," Snow said.
"...We are working as vigorously as possible to go after bin Laden, and so are other governments -- this is not simply a United States effort; there are a variety of parties involved and all want to get him," he added.