The White House is standing by its claim that “the core of al Qaeda is decimated” even as President Obama authorized strikes this week against Khorasan, an affiliate terrorist group plotting attacks against the United States.

In an aggressive round of questions from ABC’s Jon Karl on Friday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest repeatedly claimed that many of al Qaeda’s leaders have been killed during President Obama’s time in office.

“It continues to be clear to this day that core al Qaeda has been decimated,” Earnest said.

Karl argued that the Obama administration’s new concerns about Khorasan, an al Qaeda cell operating in Syria, shows that al Qaeda, along with other terrorist groups, are alive and well and posing threats against the U.S. homeland.

Khorasan fighters came to Syria from Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Earnest said their decision to flee and try to find a new safe haven shows how effective the Obama drone strikes and other counter-terrorism efforts against al Qaeda have been.