michael leiter, the president's former top terrorism adviser. it's good to have your perspective. thank you. >> thank you, savannah. >>> there are new tensions in the already strained alliance between the u.s. and pakistan. the rift over the country's relationship with a growing terrorist network accused of attacks on americans. our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell joins us now from washington. andrea, good evening. >> good evening, savannah. as the u.s. takes down al qaeda leaders, one of the most lethal threats to u.s. troops in afghanistan is a terror network based in pakistan that america's top outgoing military leader says is an arm of our so-called ally, pakistan. the threat, a deadly terror network called the haqqani. an organized crime family based in pakistan the u.s. says is responsible for brazen attacks in the heart of the afghan capitol. the 20-hour firefight against the u.s. embassy two weeks ago and the bombing of the intercontinental hotel in june. admiral mike mullen made 27 visits to pakistan to stop its support for terrorism and says he failed

. >> reporter: michael leiter who, until july, ran the national counterterrorism center, says al qaeda, now run by ayman al- zawahiri, is critically wounded. is that network still capable of a large-scale attack? >> really the ranks of al qaeda in pakistan have been very seriously thinned. so i think they can still pull off an attack, but i think it's much less likely that they could pull off a catastrophic attack like 9/11. >> reporter: beyond losing operatives, al qaeda is also losing some popular support. >> over time, al qaeda's message is resonating less and less. al qaeda's methods of attacks, suicide bombings against innocents, is becoming less and less popular. >> reporter: but the bin laden network is not dead, and we were reminded of that just last week when overseas intelligence picked up a tip of a possible attack around the tenth anniversary of 9/11. u.s. officials still cannot dismiss that threat. the greater danger, though, may now come from al qaeda franchises across africa and the gulf region. there are threats from somalia where nearly 50 americans have joined the fig