WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden says U.S. forces are inflicting "significant damage" on the al-Qaida terrorist network in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Rejecting suggestions that al-Qaida is becoming entrenched in

Pakistan, Biden said in a taped interview broadcast Thursday that the United States is making progress there.

Speaking on NBC's "Today" show, Biden dismissed complaints

from some Democrats that the U.S. is in the region for nation

building. He says the U.S. is there to defeat al-Qaida which poses a "clear and present danger to us."

Biden was interviewed on Wednesday in Fort Drum, N.Y., home to the Army's 10th Mountain Division.