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Mr. Biden’s top aides have said he is keenly aware of the risks of a total security collapse transpiring in Kabul, the Afghan capital, if all Western troops leave, and he has privately described a fall-of-Saigon scenario as haunting.

But in private meetings in recent weeks, the president has also questioned whether the small remaining contingent of Americans can accomplish anything after 20 years during which almost 800,000 U.S. troops have been deployed, or whether it will ever be possible to bring them home. Cost for the war and reconstruction efforts is estimated at about $2 trillion.

Mr. Biden’s own inclination, when he was President Barack Obama’s vice president, was toward a minimal American presence, mainly to conduct counterterrorism missions. But as president, aides said, Mr. Biden must weigh whether following such instincts would run too great a risk of the Taliban overwhelming government forces and taking over Afghanistan’s key cities.

It is unclear how the administration will fulfill its pledge to prevent Al Qaeda from establishing a larger presence in the country — and possibly use it once again as a haven to launch attacks against the United States — if the Taliban do not honor their promise to sever ties with the terrorist organization.

“While not impossible, I think this will make it much harder to remain focused on our counterterrorism objectives,” Gen. Joseph L. Votel, a retired head of the military’s Central and Special Operations Commands, said in an email. Effective counterterrorism “requires good intelligence, good partners, good capabilities and good access,” he added.

“All of these will be challenged,” General Votel said.

The United States maintains a constellation of air bases in the Persian Gulf region, as well as in Jordan, and the Pentagon operates a major regional air headquarters in Qatar. But launching long-range bomber or armed drone missions is risky and time-consuming, and not necessarily as effective in combating hostile targets that pop up suddenly or have time to move out of striking distance.