Withdrawing from Afghanistan by May 1 ‘tough,’ president says

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said it would be “tough” to meet a May 1 deadline to withdraw all remaining U.S. troops from Afghanistan, publicly indicating for the first time that he could extend the U.S. troop presence there.

Biden, in an interview with ABC News that aired Wednesday, said he was consulting with allies on the pace and scope of the drawdown and added that if the deadline were to be extended, it would not be by “a lot longer.”

The United States has about 1,000 more troops in Afghanistan than the 2,500 it has disclosed, the New York Times reported Sunday. That has further complicated the debate at the White House over whether to abide by a deal, struck last year by the Trump administration and the Taliban, that calls for removing the remaining U.S. forces by May 1.

Many senior American commanders and intelligence analysts still argue that a full withdrawal may lead to al-Qaida and other groups hostile to the United States seizing wide swaths of the country.

Biden, like his predecessor, has promised to end the nearly 20year conflict and withdraw the 3,500 or so U.S. troops in the country — down from about 12,000 troops a year ago. The Trump deal in February 2020 caught some U.S. allies by surprise, as the roughly 7,000 North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops in Afghanistan rely on the United States for logistics and security support.

If the United States does indeed try to leave by May 1, it will be almost impossible logistically to withdraw both the U.S. and the allied forces on time, American commanders and independent analysts have said, although U.S. officials insist it remains an option.

“That was not a very solidly negotiated deal that the president, the former president worked out,” Biden said in the interview with “Good Morning America” that took place Tuesday. “We’re in consultation with our allies as well as the government, and that decision is in process now.”

Biden said it would be difficult for all service members to leave by May 1.

“It could happen,” he said, “but it is tough.”

A spokeswoman for the White House’s National Security Council, Emily Horne, declined to comment further Wednesday. Other administration officials emphasized that Biden had not made any final decisions.

Biden is keenly aware of the risks of a total security collapse transpiring in Kabul, the Afghan capital, if all Western troops leave, and he has privately described a fall-of-Saigon scenario as haunting, aides said.

But the president also questions whether the small remaining contingent of Americans can accomplish anything after 20 years during which almost 800,000 U.S. troops have deployed or whether it will ever be possible to bring them home.

The Taliban have threatened to resume attacks against American and other Atlantic alliance forces if the United States unilaterally decides to keep its forces beyond the May deadline. U.S. troops are now hunkered down in about a dozen bases and perform two main missions: counterterrorism operations and advising Afghan security forces at various headquarters.