MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/. Moscow does not rule out that the Taliban radical movement (outlawed in Russia) may launch a spring offensive in the wake of Washington’s decision to delay the troop withdrawal, Special Russian Presidential Representative for Afghanistan, Director of the Second Asian Department at Russia’s Foreign Ministry Zamir Kabulov told TASS on Thursday.

"This cannot be fully ruled out because the Americans obviously breached their commitments to the Taliban movement under an agreement concluded last year. That is why, such a possibility emerges for the Taliban," the Russian diplomat said.

Moscow would like to avoid this scenario, Kabulov stressed. "For us, it is not of critical importance that the Americans may pull out a bit later. For us, the peace process in Afghanistan is a priority," he pointed out.

US President Joe Biden announced on April 14 that the United States would start troop pullout from Afghanistan by May 1 and complete this process by September 11 this year.

The previous US administration of President Donald Trump and the Taliban radical movement signed a peace deal in Doha on February 29, 2020. Under the deal, the United States, its allies and the coalition forces undertook to pull out all their troops from Afghanistan within 14 months. In turn, the Taliban guaranteed that it would not use the territory of Afghanistan for operations that posed a threat to the security of the United States and its allies.