Russia has expressed the belief that the situation in Afghanistan collapsed after the withdrawal of U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said this while speaking at the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University on Tuesday.

Mr Lavrov pointed to the need for Russian-European Union cooperation on various matters concerning the regional crises and conflicts.

“We have to cooperate to help resolve the numerous regional crises and conflicts.

“This was again manifested very brightly amid the collapse of the situation in Afghanistan after the hasty withdrawal of the United States and NATO,” he said.

This comment is Mr Lavrov’s first on developments in Afghanistan after power seizure by the Taliban, a terrorist group banned in Russia.

Meanwhile, Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan, Dmitry Zhirnov, is holding a meeting with a representative of the Taliban movement on Tuesday.

The embassy told Sputnik that as of the time of writing the report, a Taliban member had arrived for the meeting.

Zhirnov said he intended to discuss issues related to the security of the embassy with the Taliban.