Like millions of people across Kabul, Afghans in other provinces on Wednesday night chanted the slogan "Allahu Akbar" (God is the greatest), in a show of support for Afghan forces fighting the Taliban.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday spoke on the telephone with High Council for National Reconciliation Chairman Abdullah Abdullah and he reiterated the US’s commitment to a just and durable political settlement that ends the war in Afghanistan.