People close to former mujahideen leader Abdul Rab Rasoul Sayyaf said Thursday that President Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah are close to resolving their political differences, but no official word has yet been released.  

Late Thursday night, the Ministry of Public Health reported that 15 new confirmed COVID-19 cases had been reported in Herat, as well as another virus-caused death, bringing the national total of registered cases to 273, and the number of reported deaths to six.