Why does the U.S. still have soldiers in Syria?

 

Periodic reminder that America still has a zombie troop presence in Syria that occasionally gets droned and rocketed while deployed in pursuit of absolutely no strategic objective whatsoever https://t.co/D0QpJeAxVw

— Gregg Carlstrom (@glcarlstrom) October 21, 2021

I realize once the U.S. commits to a troop deployment, its really hard to end it. That seems to be because of political pressure or perceived pressure (no one wants to seem like they've "lost" and pulling out soldiers looks like a loss), but also because the military always resists removing U.S. forces from anywhere once they are there.

Why is that? Is their budget tied to a particular deployment and people within the military are trying to protect their own budgetary fiefdom? Do people just get psychologically attached to the status quo? Keeping soldiers supplied and rotating in and out in a faraway and mostly hostile country is a logistical challenge, one that the U.S. military is really good at meeting, but still wouldn't it be easier just to wind things down when the original purpose for the deployment is over?