Biden calls Afghanistan withdrawal deadline of May 1 ‘tough’

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says that it will be “tough” for the U.S. to meet a May 1 deadline to withdraw troops from Afghanistan but that the complete drawdown won’t take much longer. The deadline to end America’s longest war six weeks from now was set under an agreement reached by former President Donald Trump and the Taliban, without the buy-in of the Afghan government. Biden said in an interview with ABC News that aired Wednesday that he was consulting with allies on the pace of the drawdown. Biden says meeting the May 1 deadline “could happen, but it is tough.” He adds that if the deadline is extended, it won’t be by “a lot longer.”