Attorney General Eric Holder says the corralling of Afghan native Najibullah Zazi before he could bomb New York subways proves the Justice Department is well equipped to combat terrorism.

Not so fast.

Yes, Zazi pleaded guilty Monday in a Brooklyn federal court to assorted terrorism charges — including conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction.

The “martyrdom operation” — a suicide bombing set for last Sept. 14-16 — was interrupted when Zazi realized the feds were on to him.

Now Holder says Zazi coughed up valuable intelligence — demonstrating that the Justice Department belongs on the front lines in the War on Terror (or whatever it is that the Obama administration is calling it these days).

For sure, everybody involved in the Zazi case deserves congratulations. But it would be easier to take Holder’s larger claims seriously if he wasn’t packing the department full of lawyers who previously represented terrorists.

Last November, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), a Judiciary Committee member, demanded to know exactly how many Justice Department lawyers previously defended terrorist-detainees.

Last weekend, Holder answered: Nine.

Among them: Principal Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal, who lawyered for Osama bin Laden’s driver, and Jennifer Daskal, who was the detainee point-person for Human Rights Watch.

But Holder won’t ID the other seven.

That just doesn’t cut it. He’s presiding over an astonishing conflict of interest, and it must end before civilian terror trials commence.