'Musharraf understands importance of democracy'

Nudging President Pervez Musharraf once again, United States President George W Bush has said the sooner Pakistan gets off the emergency decree, the faster it will return to the road to democracy and that the beleaguered military ruler must shed his uniform.

As the US administration announced the decision to send Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte to Pakistan later this week, Bush said he believed that 'Musharraf understood the importance of democracy.'

'President Musharraf has got Pakistan on the road to democracy. And when I talked to him, I said, you got to get Pakistan back on the road to democracy as quickly as possible,' Bush said in an interview to the Business Network of Fox News.

'It is an ever-changing situation. There are a lot of events taking place. And our purpose, of course, is to promote democracy in Pakistan, which is at the same time a valuable ally in fighting the extremists. Musharraf understands the stakes of the war, and I do believe he understands the importance of democracy,' Bush said.