National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby pushed back against Fox News host Brian Kilmeade after he said that Al Qaeda "feels pretty good" despite its leader being killed by a drone strike.
While interviewing Kirby on Tuesday, Kilmeade downplayed the killing of terrorist mastermind Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
"I do think that one would believe if the leader of the Taliban -- excuse me -- the leader of Al Qaeda is not in a cave or hiding out in the mountains of Pakistan," the Fox News host said, "That he's on the balcony in the capitol, that Al Qaeda feels pretty good about their presence in that country and there's more than just one guy."
"But that's not good news for us," Kilmeade complained.
"I'd actually throw that back a little, Brian," Kirby countered. "I don't think they're feeling too good about being in Afghanistan right now."
"Really?" Kilmeade replied. "If they were worried about it, they would be hiding in Pakistan where we couldn't even find them."
"I mean, I don't think Al Qaeda can look at what happened over the last 48 hours and feel like Afghanistan is going to be much of a safe haven for them," Kirby explained. "We have proven that over-the-horizon counterterrorism capability works."
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