Uh … yes, in fact we do. Why wouldn’t Joe Biden know this, especially in the context of strategizing for over-the-horizon security in Afghanistan?

The transcript of the interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos provides the full exchange:

👀 Biden incorrectly says the U.S. has no troops in Syria. We have 900 in Syria, more than a third of what we had in #Afghanistan.

The Commander-in-Chief should know this. pic.twitter.com/lDwhjWPsfU

— John Cooper (@thejcoop) August 19, 2021

STEPHANOPOULOS: How about the threat to the United States? Most intelligence analysis has predicted that Al Qaeda would come back 18 to 24 months after a withdrawal of American troops. Is that analysis now being revised? Could it be sooner?

BIDEN: It could be. But George, look, here’s the deal. Al Qaeda, ISIS, 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. And we have maintained the ability to have an over-the-horizon capability to take them out. We’re– we don’t have military in Syria to make sure that we’re gonna be protected–

STEPHANOPOULOS: And you’re confident we’re gonna have that in Afghanistan?

BIDEN: Yeah. I’m confident we’re gonna have the overriding capability, yes.

Biden must have thought this was an ultimate dunk on his critics. And it might have been, had it been true. In fact, the US has a significant number of counterterrorism troops in Syria, according to the White House’s own disclosure to Congress two months ago. Biden even bragged about using them in February against an Iranian-linked militia group (via Twitchy):

Iraq and Syria.  As part of a comprehensive strategy to defeat ISIS, United States Armed Forces are working by, with, and through local partners in conducting airstrikes and other necessary operations against ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria and against al-Qa’ida in Syria.  A small presence of United States Armed Forces remains in strategically significant locations in Syria to conduct operations, in partnership with indigenous ground forces, to address continuing terrorist threats emanating from Syria.  United States Armed Forces in Iraq continue to advise, coordinate with, and provide support to select elements of the Iraqi security forces, including Iraqi Kurdish security forces.  Support to Iraqi security forces includes training, equipment, communications support, and intelligence support.  United States Armed Forces also provide limited support to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization mission in Iraq.  Actions in Iraq are being undertaken in coordination with the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government, and in conjunction with coalition partners.

As reported in February 2021, I directed a targeted military strike against infrastructure in eastern Syria used by Iran‑supported non-state militia groups.  Those non-state militia groups were involved in attacks against United States and Coalition personnel in Iraq.  These groups were also engaged in ongoing planning for future such attacks.  I directed this action consistent with my responsibility to protect United States citizens both at home and abroad and in furtherance of United States national security interests, pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct United States foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive.

So how many US troops are in Syria? According to the Pentagon, Fox’s Lucas Tomlinson reports, about 900 or so:

Biden tells ABC: “We don't have military in Syria"

Pentagon: We have 900 U.S. troops in Syria

— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) August 19, 2021

Let’s put that number in context for Afghanistan. At the end of December 2017, we had 8,300 uniformed troops in Afghanistan, according to the Congressional Research Service,, roughly the same level as Barack Obama’s drawdown in late 2014.

CRS has no data after that, but Trump ordered a surge to 14,000 troops in that same year, which was reportedly complete by November 2017. Trump had been drawing down troops in 2020 in anticipation of a later withdrawal effort of his own. By February of last year, the Trump administration announced that they would draw down from 13,000 to around 8,600 over four months, but anticipated “three to five years” to pull out the rest:

The deal would lay out a 135-day timetable for drawing down American troop strength in Afghanistan from about 13,000 to 8,600; United States officials had indicated that they planned to make the reduction with or without an agreement in place. It calls for a complete withdrawal within three to five years, though it is not clear what constitutes “complete withdrawal.”

It’s not clear just what troop levels were in Afghanistan by January 21. We do know that the May 1 deadline that Trump later set for full withdrawal got ignored by Biden. (Worth noting — that was a unilateral change; the agreement had withdrawal no earlier than 2023, according to the NYT.) Recommendations made to Biden included a residual force of 2500 to secure the logistics and intel capabilities of the Afghan forces. Biden rejected that in favor of a full withdrawal, even though it would have been the lowest troop level since the start of hostilities, and even though we hadn’t suffered a combat death in Afghanistan in over a year.

That’s a policy debate, however, and this is a competency issue. How could Joe Biden not know that we have 900 troops in Syria, doing the kind of active counter-terrorism work that he claims wasn’t necessary in Afghanistan? Better question: why did the White House make this very same claim three days ago in its talking points prior to Biden’s awful finger-pointing speech? Look at the last section:

Here are the WH Afghanistan talking points Pelosi's office just sent around. They are not good:

"The Administration knew that there was a distinct possibility that Kabul would fall to the Taliban. It was not an inevitability. It was a possibility." #facepalm pic.twitter.com/aE8lbCnw1z

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) August 16, 2021

It reads: “The United States face terrorist threats in countries around the world including Syria, Libya, and Yemen. We don’t have boots on the ground in those countries.” Again, this is just two months after Biden bragged about using our military in Syria to conduct a counterterrorist operation. And guess what that War Powers Act declaration says about Yemen?

Arabian Peninsula Region.  A small number of United States military personnel are deployed to Yemen to conduct operations against al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula and ISIS.

There’s no word on Libya in that disclosure. It’s worth noting, however, that the need for over-the-horizon counterterror operations in Libya comes from the Obama-Biden administration’s decapitation of the Qaddafi regime a decade ago, which they justified through their capabilities to do over-the-horizon operations. How’d that work out for our consulate in Benghazi? About the same way it worked out for our embassy and our fellow Americans in Kabul.

All of this proves what I have long argued about Joe Biden — that he’s an empty suit and an empty-headed demagogue. It also demonstrates that Biden has surrounded himself with equally inept and incompetent advisers and strategists.