Deputy Minister Sedat Önal discussed the security situation in Afghanistan with U.S. deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman as U.S. forces are set to pull out of the country, the Turkish foreign ministry stated on Friday.
With rapid gains in recent days, the Taliban have now taken control of 15 of Afghanistan's 34 provincial capitals, sources confirmed on Friday.
Following days of heavy clashes, the insurgents captured Kandahar and Herat, Afghanistan's second- and third-largest cities on Thursday, and advanced on three more provincial capitals by early Friday.
Sherman also expressed U.S. condolences and solidarity in the fight against wildfires in Turkey, the ministry said.
