Washington, August 20 (RHC)-- U.S. President Joe Biden has falsely claimed that the United States does not have military troops deployed to Syria, despite the fact that American occupation forces are systematically plundering natural resources and smuggling basic commodities out of the war-ravaged Arab country.

During an interview with ABC News broadcast on Thursday about the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Biden defended himself against fierce criticism for the messy decision and subsequent Taliban control over the country.

He pointed to Syria and East Africa as areas where terrorists pose a greater threat to Americans than Afghanistan, and argued the U.S. does not have a sizable military presence in those areas.

“Al-Qaeda, ISIS (Daesh), they metastasize.  There's a significantly greater threat to the United States from Syria.  There's a significantly greater threat from East Africa.  There's significant greater threat to other places in the world than it is from the mountains of Afghanistan," Biden said in the interview.

In spite of claiming to end America’s “forever wars,” U.S. President Joe Biden has no plans to withdraw from Syria.   "And we have maintained the ability to have an over-the-horizon capability to take them out.... We don't have military in Syria to make sure that we're gonna be protected,” the president said.

This is while Politico and CNN news network reported in July that the U.S. currently has roughly 900 troops deployed in Syria in violation of international law.

“Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria are three completely separate issues and should not be conflated,” a senior Biden administration official recently told American weekly news magazine Newsweek.

“On Syria, we do not anticipate any changes right now to the mission or the footprint,” the official told the magazine, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

The U.S. military has stationed forces and equipment in northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming that the deployment is aimed at preventing the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.  Damascus says the deployment is meant to plunder the country's resources.

Former U.S. president Donald Trump admitted on more than one occasion that American forces were in Syria for its oil.  After failing to oust the Syrian government through proxies and direct involvement in the conflict, the U.S. government has stepped up its economic war on the Arab country.