The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan on 15 August after the group’s troops entered the capital Kabul and the country’s President Ashraf Ghani fled the nation. The insurgent group’s final offensive took place amid the withdrawal of US and NATO troops from the country.

The situation in Afghanistan “collapsed” after the hasty withdrawal of US and NATO troops from the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has stated in a speech at the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University in Kaliningrad, Russia.