Pakistan said on Sunday that it has militants on the run in the rugged tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, after a protracted and hard-fought military campaign.
The assurances follow bloody sieges in March and June which were heavily criticised for their high military death toll.
"I think that the operations in June and July were the watershed and we are now certainly downhill," military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told journalists who were invited to South Waziristan.
"It is still difficult to predict when this will be over, but we are certainly over the watershed now," he said, adding that the fighters "can be eliminated ... very quickly."
The military spokesman said that Pakistan forces had systematically searched out and destroyed the militants' hiding places and bases, limiting their ability to operate. "It is certain that the space for the miscreants has been shrunk and most of the area of Waziristan ... has been secured by the security forces," he said.
"Around 150 foreign fighters have been killed in the tribal areas since last October," Sultan said.
"Miscreants are not freely able to operate in this area; however, they can sneak in discreetly and may put some explosive on the roadside or fire one odd rocket, but their free activity, their strong bases ... have been routed."
Foreign and local journalists have been taken to the picturesque Shakai valley, the scene of the June operation. Troops say this is where they uncovered a cellar in one of the destroyed hideouts containing computers, weapons, ammunition and documents including the passport of a Jordanian national, Abdullah Khalid Mohammad.
Despite the optimism, officials would not answer the big question whether they have seen any sign of Osama bin Laden and his right-hand man Ayman al-Zawahiri, who are thought to be hiding in the tribal belt.
But Sultan did not rule out the possibility that some militants might have taken refuge in Pakistan's cities.
"The security forces are very alert in the settled areas as they are alert in the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas)," Sultan said.
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