WASHINGTON — CIA Director Leon Panetta said on Sunday there may be less than 50 al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan, with ‘no question’ that most of the terrorist network is operating from the western tribal region of Pakistan.

Panetta’s remarks came as President Barack Obama builds up U.S. forces in Afghanistan to prop up the government and, in his words, ‘disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda.’ About U.S. 98,000 troops will be in Afghanistan by fall.

Asked by ABC’s Jake Tapper to estimate the number of al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan, Panetta said, ‘I think the estimate on the number of Al Qaeda is actually relatively small. At most, we’re looking at 50 to 100, maybe less. It’s in that vicinity.’

Panetta told ABCs’ ‘This Week’ that the CIA is heavily focused on killing the al Qaida leadership in Pakistan, and he defended CIA drone strikes against ‘dead wrong’ claims that they violate international law. He said Osama bin Laden is hiding amid the region’s rough terrain with ‘tremendous security around him.’

Asked to describe what an American victory would look like in Afghanistan, Panetta said: ‘Our purpose, our whole mission there, is to make sure that Al Qaeda never finds another safehaven from which […]