‘Let Me Finish’: John Kirby Clashes with Fox News’ Peter Doocy After Terrorist Strike

White House spokesperson John Kirby clashed on Tuesday with Peter Doocy of Fox News over al-Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan.

Kirby took questions in the White House briefing room one day after it was reported the U.S. killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike in Afghanistan. The U.S. withdrew all of its armed forces from the country last year after 20 years in the country. Shortly after the withdrawal, the Taliban, which had allowed al-Qaeda to operate inside Afghanistan before the group perpetrated the September 11 attacks, retook the capital of Kabul.

“You’re saying you’ve always known there was a small number of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan,” Doocy began, before quoting remarks by President Joe Biden last year. “President Biden said, ‘What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al-Qaeda gone?'”

“I mean, in a major way al-Qaeda was not playing a–,” Kirby began as he noticed Doocy appearing to get ready to speak again. “No, wait. Let me finish. They weren’t playing a major role in operations or resourcing or planning in Afghanistan. But Peter, I have no–specifically, I was at a different podium a year ago. We talked about the fact that al-Qaeda had a presence in Afghanistan, but small and not incredibly powerful or potent. And I think without getting into numbers, we would still assess that to be the case.”

Doocy noted that al-Zawahiri was the world’s most wanted terrorist.

“You guys gave a whole country to a bunch of people that are on the FBI most wanted list,” Doocy said. “What did you think was going to happen?”

“I take issue with the premise that we gave a country to terrorist groups,” Kirby answered. “I’d encourage you to ask–”

“They’re harboring the world’s number one terrorist,” Doocy shot back. “How is that not giving a country to a terrorist-sympathizing group, if not giving them permission to have terrorists just sit on a balcony?”

“Peter, the way you asked that, it makes it sound like we owned Afghanistan a year ago,” Kirby said. “It wasn’t our country. It was an independent sovereign state. And the president made a bold decision to end a war that had been going on 20 years because he believed then and still believes now that our national security interests are best met by meeting the threats of today, not the threats of 2001.”

Doocy cited an agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban whereby the latter would not allow Afghanistan to be a safe haven for terrorists.

“What are you going to do about it?” Doocy asked.

“I’m not going to telegraph decisions that haven’t been made or policy initiatives one way or the other,” Kirby replied.

“Are you waiting for a spectacular terrorist attack in the U.S. to then say, ‘Oh, well there’s terrorists in Afghanistan, now we can go get them'”?

“If we did, Peter, then we wouldn’t have taken the hit on Saturday – the strike that we took on Mr. Zawahiri.”

As Kirby elaborated, Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum cut away from the briefing for a scheduled interview with former Secretary of State and Fox News contributor Mike Pompeo.

Watch above via Fox News.