Joe Biden admits ‘tough’ to meet May 1 deadline for US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan

United States President Joe Biden on Wednesday acknowledged it will be “tough to meet the May 1 deadline to pull out American soldiers from Afghanistan”, as was agreed in the peace deal with the Taliban. “Could happen, but it is tough,” AFP quoted Biden as saying during a TV interview broadcast. “I’m in the process of making that decision now as to when they’ll leave,” said the US President.

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Taking a direct swipe at his predecessor Donald Trump, Biden said, “The fact is that was not a very solidly negotiated deal that the president, the former president worked out.”

“The failure to have an orderly transition from the Trump presidency to my presidency, which usually takes place from election day to the time he’s sworn in, has cost me time and consequences,” said Biden, adding “That’s one of the issues we’re talking about now, in terms of Afghanistan.”

As part of last year’s agreement with the Taliban, which ensured the insurgents held peace talks with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s administration, the US is supposed to withdraw all its troops from the war-torn country by May 1. 

However, those talks – which were held in Qatar in September – have yielded little results. 

Washington wants to jump-start the peace process and get the Taliban and Afghan government to agree to some form of power-sharing.