President Joe Biden has repeatedly defended his decision to pull out of Afghanistan, saying the United States accomplished its 20-year mission in the country: stamping out the terrorism threat in Afghanistan and preventing al-Qaida from using the country as a base to launch attacks against the United States. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stood by President Biden's assessment Monday, saying the intelligence community believed al-Qaida's capability to attack the United States was "not present in Afghanistan." David Schanzer, director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke University, noted the withdrawal will make it more difficult to use "over-the-horizon" capabilities and conduct the types of intelligence operations the United States had with thousands…