US Army/Spc. David Marck Jr.
- Biden said it may be "tough" to meet Trump's May 1 deadline for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.
- There are currently more than 2,500 troops remaining in the country.
- The president has pledged to end the war in Afghanistan.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
President Joe Biden said in an ABC News interview that aired on Wednesday that it will be "tough" for the United States to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by May 1.
The current deadline was set in agreement with former President Donald Trump and the Taliban; the Afghan government didn't authorize the terms of the deal.
Biden told George Stephanopoulos that he is speaking with allies about the current drawdown plans, but could not guarantee that the deadline would be honored.
"It could happen," he said, "but it is tough."
Biden noted, however, that if the deadline were to be extended, the troop withdrawal wouldn't take "a lot longer" to complete.
While the president has aimed to end the war in Afghanistan, which has been ongoing for nearly 20 years, he criticized the Trump administration's deal to bring back the more than 2,500 troops remaining in the country. Many countries were unaware of the deal that Trump brokered, which complicated security efforts for the 7,000 NATO troops in the country.
"That was not a very solidly negotiated deal that the president, the former president worked out," Biden said in the interview. "We're in consultation with our allies as well as the government, and that decision is in process now."
The current US troop presence in the country is down from 13,000 troops last year.
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