MOSCOW (TASS) – After hearing the news on postponing the date of the troop withdrawal from May 1 to September 11, the Taliban announced that they refused to take part in any international events until the U.S. fulfilled the agreements.

Joseph Biden announced the deadline for the NATO troop pullout from Afghanistan — September 11, 2021 — the 20^th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York and Washington, which were the reason for U.S.’s invasion of the country.

The Biden’s decision threatens to disrupt another important initiative from Washington — the Istanbul conference — which is set to breathe new life into the Afghan peace process, Kommersant writes.

The conference on Afghanistan in Istanbul will kick off on April 24 instead of April 16 as was announced earlier, according to Izvestia. However, it is still unclear whether the Taliban’s (outlawed in Russia) delegates will attend. The Taliban hinted that they would not take part in any talks as long as there is still one American soldier in Afghanistan. The problems do not end here: in Istanbul, the Afghan government is expected to draw up a single reconciliation program. Yet, now it seems to be more like wishful thinking rather than a real roadmap on a settlement. Moscow’s consent to participate in this event will also rest on a clear plan and a specific agenda, Zamir Kabulov, the special envoy of the President of the Russian Federation for Afghanistan, admitted in an interview with Izvestia.

According to Kommersant, should the Istanbul conference turned out to be a failure, that would be a blow to Washington’s image. A diplomatic source told the newspaper that the success of the Istanbul conference would largely depend on whether there will be enough time to develop a comprehensive decision. Russian expert on Central Asia Arkady Dubnov points out that now the Taliban use well-known tactics: “to bargain until the very end and threaten to use violence.” He noted that September 11 is an insulting deadline for the Taliban since this is a reminder that they were responsible for sheltering the notorious, ex-leader of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, who allegedly had masterminded the attack on the U.S. No full-fledged reconciliation should be expected from the Taliban and, moreover, in case the group intensifies attacks on NATO forces and Afghanistan’s government troops, the September 11 deadline will be again extended.