Rahmatullah Nabil, former head of Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security, said that relations between former President Ashraf Ghani and Pakistani intelligence were the direct cause of his government's collapse in Afghanistan.

The Taliban said on Wednesday it was close to an agreement with U.S. officials on a deal that would see U.S. forces withdraw from Afghanistan in exchange for a Taliban promise that the country would not become a haven for international militants.

The United States will soon decide whether to keep open a Taliban office in Qatar as America steps up its Afghan war effort, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday, adding he was looking at who represents the increasingly fractious insurgency.