Mazar-i-Sharif

Taliban fighters on Aug. 14 captured the key northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif and closed in on Kabul, as U.S. President Joe Biden sent more troops to evacuate American personnel and their allies.

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The Taliban launched a multi-pronged assault early on Aug. 14 on Mazar-e-Sharif, a major city in northern Afghanistan defended by powerful former warlords.

Turkey's foreign minister spoke by phone with his Afghan counterpart on March 21.

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Mohammad Hanif Atmar discussed the Afghan peace process, according to Turkish diplomatic sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

At least seven servicemеn in Afghanistan have been killed after the helicopter they were traveling with crashed, AFP reported.

According to the Afghan Ministry of Defense, the air force's MI-17 helicopter crashed due to "technical faults".

"All the seven crew members including four pilots were martyred in the incident," the ministry said in a statement.

Afghanistan opened the latest in a series of air cargo trade corridors on Jan. 9 with the inauguration of a route linking the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif with Istanbul and destinations in Europe.

The International Committee of the Red Cross will "drastically" cut back its operations in Afghanistan following attacks that have killed seven of its staff this year, the aid group said on Monday, quoted by Reuters. 

Turkey has condemned an attack on a military base in northern Afghanistan that claimed the lives of dozens of soldiers and injured many others. 

As many as 140 Afghan soldiers were killed on April 21 by Taliban attackers apparently disguised in military uniforms in what would be the deadliest attack ever on an Afghan military base, Afghan officials said.