The U.S. special representative for Syria has urged continued American deployment to the war torn country in order to keep pressure on U.S. enemies and make the conflict a "quagmire" for Russia, EDNews.net citing Newsweek.

Special Representative James Jeffrey said Tuesday during a Hudson Institute video call that President Donald Trump's "maximum pressure" approach towards Syria was paying dividends, and rejected concerns that the American deployment there could turn into a drawn out and costly project akin to Afghanistan or Vietnam.

Assad—who now controls the majority of the country—is backed by Russia and Iran, both of which the U.S. is trying to undermine. Jeffrey said Tuesday that the U.S. strategy will both weaken America's enemies while avoiding costly mission creep.

"This isn't Afghanistan, this isn't Vietnam," he explained. "This isn't a quagmire. My job is to make it a quagmire for the Russians."

"Our military presence—while small—is important to this whole overall calculation, so we urge the Congress, the American people, the president to keep these forces on," Jeffrey added.

"We are pursuing what we think is a smart policy," Jeffrey said of the U.S. approach to Syria, where at least 500 American soldiers are still deployed alongside allied local forces and to support operations against remaining Islamic State militants.

Jeffrey said the Russians don't "have a political way out" of their problems with Assad. "Our job is to present them through the U.N. and our support for the U.N., with a way forward, but that requires them distancing themselves to some degree from Assad and from the Iranians."

Jeffrey also said it was imperative to "keep the pressure on" the Assad regime, explaining, "I've never seen a regime that poses more threats to its region and to the American idea of how the world should be organized."