With one month until former President Donald Trumps May 1 deadline for withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan, President Joe Biden faces one of the most intense lobbying campaigns of his two-month-old presidency.

Biden has already suggested he wont meet the deadline. But in closed-door meetings and bold public declarations, parties on all sides former troops, lawmakers, generals and Afghans themselves are trying to shape his final decision on whether to bring the forces home or extend the deployment.

And while similar groups have been lobbying for years, as Trump and President Barack Obama promised and then failed to pull the U.S. out, the influence game is different under Biden and an end to Americas longest-running foreign intervention seems more likely. Thats due to a mix of factors. They include the new power of anti-war activists, particularly within the Democratic Party; Bidens long-standing wariness of ambitious American plans for Afghanistan; and Trumps decision to set an unprecedented, though controversial, timeline for withdrawal.

Many advocates make their case in powerful personal terms. On March 9, former Army intelligence analyst Esti Lamonaca attended a private meeting that included Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), one of the most influential Democrats working on national security.

For the first time ever, Lamonaca told a large group of people the story of their first night in Afghanistan: waking up to a surprise attack, holding a fellow soldiers hand as he took his last breath and then noticing a target laser on their own body.

I dont know if the weapon jammed. I froze. I should have died, Lamonaca, the lead organizer with the progressive veterans group Common Defense, told HuffPost. I had this moment of realization that we werent supposed to be here.

To Lamonaca who struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder its clear that closure for the tens of thousands of troops who have been stationed in Afghanistan since 2001 depends on a withdrawal.

Most of us havent dealt with it, and one partial reason for that is that were still there, Lamonaca said. For a lot of us, it would help knowing theres not other people suffering.

The following week, lawmakers in Afghanistan met virtually with some of their counterparts in Congress, notably Democratic Reps. Jason Crow (Colo.), Susan Wild (Pa.) and Andy Kim (N.J.). Participants in the meetings told HuffPost they understand Americas weariness with the war but worry the U.S. will withdraw under circumstances that would benefit the Taliban, the militant group the U.S. began fighting in 2001 over its ties to the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

And on March 29, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough used his high-profile Morning Joe show to suggest that pulling out would lead to Islamic State militants burning people in cages and the Taliban cutting off the heads of young girls.

Increasingly, the conventional wisdom in Washington is that the lack of a formal commitment to withdrawing within weeks suggests that Biden has already quietly settled on a delay.

The administration hopes to craft an accord between the Taliban and Afghanistans U.S.-backed government to prevent major clashes after the departure of American soldiers, and some Biden aides believe a six-month extension to the deadline will make that more likely. The president said last week that he does not believe there will be American forces in the country in 2022.

Still, even skeptics of a U.S. withdrawal are basing their arguments on the assumption that Biden is firm about bringing home the 3,500 troops currently in Afghanistan.

For advocates of a drawdown, that mood drives optimism and relief.

Peter Matlon, a Common Defense volunteer who also lobbied Reed in favor of a May 1 withdrawal, said he believes Biden is likely to do the right thing compared to past presidents.

I was a strong supporter of Obama, I worked for him in the primaries but I do believe that he was naive in putting too much faith in the advice he was receiving from his generals, and I think he was snookered, said Matlon, who served in the Vietnam War. I dont think Biden suffers from the same lack of realpolitik.

Political Cover For Withdrawal

Some notable proponents of a less aggressive U.S. foreign policy have urged Biden to stick to Trumps plan. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) sent the president a March 18 letter , co-signed by Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), calling the May 1 withdrawal vital.

Common Defense and other groups want more legislators to join that chorus.

In its recent lobbying week, the veterans organization discussed Afghanistan with representatives for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and crucial centrists Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah).

They argued that the withdrawal would protect American troops who are badly hurting and that it does not mean the U.S. has to abandon diplomacy and aid to pursue goals like protecting Afghan womens rights, which the Taliban severely curtailed when it ruled Afghanistan prior to the 2001 American invasion.

Common Defense volunteer Brian Garcia, a retired army captain and Queens, New York, resident, told Schumers representative he had two friends killed by U.S.-aligned Afghan forces and lost three others to suicide.

Every few months, I rejoin social media just to see if anyone from my unit has taken his life, Garcia said at the meeting in a statement he later shared with HuffPost. In this particular case, supporting the troops means bringing them home.

Proponents of a quick withdrawal are also presenting the decision as politically decisive for Bidens young presidency.

On March 12, Common Defense staff told White House national security officials they are thrilled by Bidens opposition to forever wars and want to publicly credit him with ending the U.S. military role in Afghanistan rather than risk a public spat over a broken campaign promise.

The Biden aides appreciate the role our veterans played in electing the Biden-Harris ticket and they reflected back to us loud and clear that a veterans movement like ours could either be, as we say in the Marine Corps, no better friend or no worse enemy, Alex McCoy, the groups political director, said.

I have been pleasantly surprised by the productiveness, the candor and the desire for collaboration we have experienced with the administration, McCoy added. That needs to be backed up with tangible policy action.