Biden Raises Eyebrows After Declaring US Forces 'Don't Have Military' Troops in Syria for Combat
23:40 GMT 19.08.2021 (Updated: 08:07 GMT 06.08.2022)
© REUTERS / Elizabeth Frantz
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US President Joe Biden has said that he stands "squarely behind" his administration's decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan - even despite the Taliban's swift response to overthrow the Afghan government. The US president argued that "developments" in Afghanistan further proved that the US had no business in the country.
Biden signaled in a Thursday interview with ABC that the US needs to reorient its attention to the "greater" threats, rather than Afghanistan, as groups such as al-Qaeda and Daesh "metastasize."
"There's a significantly greater threat to the United States from Syria; There's a significantly greater threat from East Africa; There's [significantly] greater threat to other places in the world than it is from the mountains of Afghanistan," the US president told ABC's George Stephanopoulos during the pre-recorded interview.
"And we have maintained the ability to have an over-the-horizon capability to take them out."
Biden went on to claim that US forces "don't have military in Syria" to ensure protection.
"And we have maintained the ability to have an over-the-horizon capability to take them out," Biden said of threats outside of Afghanistan. "We don't have military in Syria to make sure that we're gonna be protected"pic.twitter.com/YqCJFc4wwLhttps://t.co/VbfRdSq9Nl
— Evan (@EvaughnCraig) August 19, 2021
The interview appears to progress without Stephanopoulos, a former White House director of communications, questioning the US president's assertion, which was perceived to be misleading at best.
In fact, the US has approximately 900 US troops stationed in Syria in support of their Kurdish allies, according to estimates published just last month.
Furthermore, the White House issued a memo in June claiming US forces maintain "a small presence" in Syria as part of a comprehensive strategy to counter Daesh. The release emphasized that US personnel were placed in "strategically significant locations in Syria to conduct operations ... to address continuing terrorist threats emanating from Syria."
Many netizens took issue with commander-in-chief's comments during the ABC broadcast, including Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY).
In Biden’s interview with Stephanopoulos he said we have no military presence in Syria.
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) August 19, 2021
We have 900 troops there right now.
How does the man in charge of our military not even know where our military is?
Our adversaries are seeing ALL of this & taking notes!
Biden tells ABC: “We don't have military in Syria"
— 𝙅𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙣 (@CifJamestown) August 19, 2021
Pentagon: We have 900 U.S. troops in Syria https://t.co/vg2bWnjz5g pic.twitter.com/zj0EUMIw3o
The administration source confirmed that there were a "small number of US and coalition forces" in areas of eastern Syria that had Daesh activity.
Meanwhile, an official from the White House told Fox News that the troops stationed in Syria are there for "advising and capacity-building," rather than combat.
