Quick Fact: Fox & Friends falsely claimed Coakley said Taliban are "gone from Afghanistan"

From the January 19 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

DOOCY: Voters heading to the polls today in Massachusetts, as you know, where polls show Republican Scott Brown ahead of Martha Coakley, the Democrat. Some say Coakley's gaffes have hurt her, like when she suggested the Taliban, gone from Afghanistan?

[...]

DOOCY: Really? Is that the truth? Joining us right now, a former CIA agent who was the head of the bin Laden unit, Michael Scheuer. Good morning to you, Michael.

SCHEUER: Good morning, sir.

DOOCY: You've studied this for a long time. Is she right or wrong?

SCHEUER: I think she probably should stick to the courtrooms. The Taliban, of course, is very active and pressing our forces in Afghanistan. They staged an enormously successful commando-type raid in Kabul yesterday. If they're out of the country, no one bothered to tell them.

I think she also was arguing in a rather opaque way that Al Qaeda and the Arab terrorists are gone, and of course that's 100 percent incorrect. Indeed, more and more foreign Arabs, foreign Muslims, are coming to fight us in Afghanistan. I don't know why she didn't know about those five young Americans who the Pakistanis captured who were going to fight alongside the Taliban.

DOOCY: Well, Michael, clearly she is opposed to the president's plan to increase troop levels in Afghanistan, and she just kind made her talking point so that it fit nicely into, "And by the way, they're gone."

SCHEUER: Yeah, you know, it's difficult to figure out why so many Democrats don't want America to win in Afghanistan. Thirty-thousand troops is clearly not enough of an increase for General McChrystal. Somehow they found it very easy to put another 10,000 on the ground in Haiti, where they're indeed needed, but the real American security issue is in Afghanistan, and we're losing there at the moment, and Mrs. Coakley doesn't seem to mind that too much.

DOOCY: Well, you have finally put that to rest. Now we know for sure, coming from you, a definitive answer.

While Doocy and Scheuer spoke, Fox & Friends aired the following on-screen text:

Fact: Coakley was referring to Al Qaeda's presence in Afghanistan

Coakley: "Let's focus our efforts on where Al Qaeda is." Coakley's comments were made during a January 11 debate at the University of Massachusetts. Moderator David Gergen asked Coakley, "[H]ow do you think we then succeed in Afghanistan?" Coakley replied: "I'm not sure there is a way to succeed. If the goal was -- and the mission in Afghanistan was to go in because we believed that the Taliban was giving harbor to terrorists. We supported that. I supported that goal. They're gone. They're not there anymore. They're in, apparently Yemen, they're in Pakistan. Let's focus our efforts on where Al Qaeda is." She added: "[T]he focus should be getting the appropriate information on individuals who are trained, who represent a threat to us, and use the force necessary to go after those individuals."

Fox & Friends previously claimed Coakley said the "Taliban" is "no longer a threat." On January 13, Fox & Friends repeatedly attacked Coakley for saying there are no "terrorists" in Afghanistan, and at one point falsely claimed she said the "Taliban" is "no longer a threat."

Fact: Military and security experts and officials agree that Al Qaeda presence in Afghanistan is "diminished"

Jim Jones: "The Al Qaeda presence is very diminished. ... No bases. No ability to launch attacks on either us or our allies." On October 4, 2009, CNN's John King asked national security adviser Jim Jones, "[D]oes the return of the Taliban in your view, sir, equal the return of a sanctuary for al Qaeda?" Jones responded: "Well, I think this is one of the central issues and, you know, it could. Obviously, the good news is that Americans should feel at least good about in Afghanistan is that the Al Qaeda presence is very diminished. The maximum estimate is less than 100 operating in the country. No bases. No ability to launch attacks on either us or our allies." [State of the Union, 10/4/09]

Wash. Post: Senior U.S. military intelligence official says Al Qaeda has "fewer than 100 members" in Afghanistan. Reporting on "the relative decline of Al-Qaeda" in Afghanistan, The Washington Post wrote: "Although the war in Afghanistan began as a response to al-Qaeda terrorism, there are perhaps fewer than 100 members of the group left in the country, according to a senior U.S. military intelligence official in Kabul who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The official estimated that there are 300 al-Qaeda members in the tribal areas of Pakistan, where the group is based, compared with tens of thousands of Taliban insurgents on either side of the border." [The Washington Post, 11/11/09]

NY Times: Senior White House official stated that Al Qaeda has fewer than 100 fighters in Afghanistan. The New York Times reported that a senior Obama administration official stated that "Al Qaeda has fewer than 100 fighters in Afghanistan." [The New York Times, 10/7/09]

Petraeus: "Al Qaida, if you will -- is not based, per se, in Afghanistan." In a May 2009 interview, King said to Gen David Petraeus, "No Al Qaida at all in Afghanistan. Is that an exaggeration, General Petraeus, or is that true?" Petraeus responded:

PETRAEUS: No, I would agree with that assessment. Certainly, Al Qaida and its affiliates. Again, remember that this is, as I mentioned earlier, a syndicate of extremist organizations, some of which are truly transnational extremists. In other words, don't just conduct attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan and India, but even throughout the rest of the world, as we saw in the U.K. a couple of years ago. They do come in and out of Afghanistan, but the Al Qaida -- precise Al Qaida, if you will -- is not based, per se, in Afghanistan, although its elements and certainly its affiliates -- Baitullah Mehsud's group, commander Nazir Khaqani (ph) network and others, certainly do have enclaves and sanctuaries in certain parts of eastern Afghanistan. And then the Afghan Taliban, of course, has a number of districts in which it has its fighters and its shadow government, if you will, even.

But I think, no, I think that's an accurate assessment, and that the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan -- that very, very mountainous, rugged terrain just east of the Afghan border and in the western part of Pakistan -- is the locus of the leadership of these organizations, although they do, again, go into Afghanistan, certainly, and conduct operations against our troops, and have tried, certainly, to threaten all the way to Kabul at various times. [State of the Union, 5/10/09]

AP: McChrystal stated, "I do not see indications of a large al-Qaida presence in Afghanistan now." The Associated Press reported, "The top commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan said Friday he sees no signs of a major al-Qaida presence in the country, but says the terror group still maintains close links to insurgents," and quoted Gen. Stanley McChrystal at the Dutch Defense Ministry commenting, "I do not see indications of a large al-Qaida presence in Afghanistan now." [AP, 9/11/09]