Insurgent fighters are now camped just 50 kilometres outside Afghanistan's capital, leaving the United States and other countries scrambling to airlift their nationals out of Kabul ahead of a feared all-out assault.
Western governments have in the past given too much hope to ordinary Afghans, who now feel like they have been abandoned.
General Kenneth McKenzie, head of the US Army Central Command vows to support Afghan air force going forward, and that the US air force will also retain ability to "strike into Afghanistan" against two other militant groups the Daesh and Al Qaeda.
General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says more than 200 of Afghanistan's 419 district centres are under Taliban control, up from district centers under the insurgents' control last month.
"Although we (Taliban) have the upper hand on the battlefield, we are very serious about talks and dialogue," a spokesperson of the Afghan insurgent group tells Reuters.
Activists burnt pictures of Min Aung Hlaing and set fire to fake coffins to mark junta leader's 65th birthday.
Fresh fighting in western Chad pits Libya-based rebels against forces loyal to a new military junta led by deceased President Deby's son.
A suicide car bomber targeted the police headquarters in a minority Shia neighbourhood in western Kabul, setting off a huge explosion that wounded dozens of people, Afghan officials said.
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