Taliban forces seized Afghanistan’s capital on 15 August 2021, after the US-backed government collapsed and its leaders fled into exile. Despite three years of improved security following the end of their insurgency, Afghanistan's economy remains stagnant and its population is in the grips of a worsening humanitarian crisis. The Taliban government remains unrecognised by any other state, with restrictions on women, who bear the brunt of policies the United Nations has called "gender apartheid",