New York: President Joe Biden has indicated that the US is unlikely to meet the May 1 deadline set by his predecessor Donald Trump to get American troops out of Afghanistan.
Addressing a news conference in Washington on Thursday, Biden said: “It’s going to be hard to meet the May 1 deadline. Just in terms of tactical reasons, it’s hard to get those troops out.”
He said that the US was consulting its NATO allies who also have troops there “and if we leave, we’re going to do so in a safe and orderly way”.
“It is not my intention to stay there for a long time. But the question is how and in what circumstances do we meet that agreement that was made by President Trump to leave under a deal that looks like it’s not being able to be worked out to begin with? How is that done?”
He appeared to question the legitimacy of the democratically elected Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani by disparaging referring to him as “the ‘leader’, quote, in Afghanistan and Kabul”.
Biden has kept on Zalmay Khalilzad, who was appointed by Trump as the special envoy for Afghanistan Reconciliation, and is still trying to seal a peace deal.
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