Biden weighs keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan until November

WASHINGTON — President Biden is considering keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan until November, rather than withdrawing them by a May 1 deadline outlined in an agreement his predecessor negotiated with the Taliban, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

In recent discussions with members of his national security team, Biden has pushed back on the Pentagon’s efforts to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan beyond May 1, one of the people said. But the president has been convinced to consider a possible six-month extension of American forces there.

“Biden wants out,” one of the people familiar with the discussions said. This person said Pentagon leaders have been making the case to Biden that the Taliban isn’t living up to its end of the agreement and described the argument being made to him as, “Look, you own this now, Mr. President, and we can’t guarantee you what will happen if we just precipitously pull everyone out.”

“The decision is with the president,” the person said.

The people familiar with the administration’s deliberations said no decision has been made.

A spokesperson for the National Security Council declined to comment and pointed to White House press secretary Jen Psaki’s most recent comments on troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. In late February, Psaki said the question of whether to withdraw troops by May 1 was an ongoing discussion in the White House, and Biden would not be okay with the Taliban taking over power in Afghanistan.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby has said a policy review is still underway and no decision has been taken on future troop levels.

“I’m in the process of making that decision now as to when they’ll leave,” Biden said.

The decision facing Biden bears some similarities to the internal debate that raged during the Obama administration when he served as vice president, though it involves far fewer troops. At that time, Biden strongly argued against sending tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, and instead called for a smaller counterterrorism force that would focus solely on targeting Al Qaeda militants. The small force Biden advocated for during the Obama administration is close to the size of the one currently in Afghanistan.

The May 1 deadline is part of an agreement between the Taliban and the U.S. negotiated by the Trump administration and signed last year in Doha. Under the deal, the U.S. promised to pull all troops out by May in return for the Taliban agreeing to enter into peace talks with their adversaries in the Afghan government and committing to ensure Afghanistan is not used as a staging ground for terrorist attacks on the U.S. or its allies.

Any extension of the U.S. troop presence beyond May 1 likely would have to be presented to and negotiated with the Taliban, which has publicly said it will not accept any delay in the U.S. exit, current and former officials say. Otherwise, the Taliban could argue the U.S. was violating the Doha agreement it signed last year, and resume an all-out war with the U.S. and NATO allies. The Taliban has mostly refrained from launching direct attacks on U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan since the February 2020 deal was signed.

The U.S. military said Wednesday it conducted airstrikes against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan in the past 48 hours following multiple attacks by the Taliban on Afghan government security forces, a military spokesman said in a tweet.

Officials at the Pentagon acknowledge that time is running out to pull out all U.S. forces and equipment in time for the May 1 deadline, given the logistical challenges of transporting hardware across the country’s mountainous terrain.

The State Department’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, took part in talks in Moscow on Thursday between the Taliban and the Afghan government as well as other prominent Afghans to try to advance the stalled peace process. Representatives from Pakistan, Iran, India and China also attended.

Afterward, the U.S., Russia, China and Pakistan issued a joint statement, saying they “urge participants in the intra-Afghan negotiations to engage immediately in discussions on fundamental issues to resolve the conflict, including the foundations of the future peaceful and stable Afghan state, the content of a political roadmap leading to an inclusive government, and the modalities of a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire.”

The Moscow meeting is due to be followed by a major international conference next month hosted by Turkey. The conference in Turkey is part of a wider diplomatic push by the Biden administration to try to revive peace talks, but the two sides remain far apart.

Washington has proposed the Taliban and Afghan leaders negotiate a power-sharing deal that would create an interim government, which would be accompanied by a ceasefire. But the Taliban has so far refused to endorse a country-wide ceasefire and the Afghan government has expressed concerns about forming an interim government without holding elections.