US President Joe Biden on Thursday expressed deep appreciation to Kenyan President William Ruto for the coming deployment of Kenyan police forces to assist in curbing gang violence in Haiti, reported news agency AP. He also defended his decision to withhold American forces from the mission in the beleaguered Caribbean nation.

The United States has agreed to contribute $300 million to a multinational force that will include 1,000 Kenyan police officers, but Biden argued that an American troop presence in Haiti would raise "all kinds of questions that can easily be misrepresented." The Democrat came into office in 2021 pledging to end U.S. involvement in so-called endless wars in the aftermath of 20 years of conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq.