There’s no question about it.

(CNN) – In his first public comments on the issue, Secretary of State John Kerry was unequivocal when discussing the Obama administration’s commitment to monitoring the five Taliban figures exchanged for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

“I’m not telling you that they don’t have some ability at some point” to return to fighting, Kerry said in an interview that aired Sunday. “But they also have an ability to get killed doing that. And I don’t think anybody should doubt the capacity of the United States of America to protect Americans.”

Speaking to CNN foreign affairs reporter Elise Labott in the seaside French village of Saint-Briac-sur-Mer, a few miles from Normandy, Kerry praised President Obama’s decision to swap five Taliban prisoners held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba – each of whom has experience on the battlefield – for Bergdahl, the last known prisoner of war in Afghanistan.

The secretary of state also waived off Republican criticism that the U.S. decision signifies the administration has taken its eyes off larger security questions confronting the nation, both placing a price on the heads of American’s abroad and opening a chasm for jihadists to rejoin the fight against the United States.