Saudi and US officials discuss situation in Afghanistan

Bilateral ties also high on agenda in phone call between Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Antony Blinken

Prince Faisal bin Farhan, pictured, was in talks with Antony Blinken over Afghanistan. EPA

Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan discussed the developments in Afghanistan with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call on Wednesday.

Both officials reviewed the situation on the ground after the Taliban seized power and discussed bilateral ties between Saudi Arabia and the US.

Mr Blinken said he spoke to the Saudi Foreign Minister about "ways the international community can support the Afghan people as well as other shared regional priorities”.

The US and its partners "call on those in positions of power and authority across Afghanistan to guarantee the protection of women and girls and their rights", he said in a tweet on Thursday. “We will monitor closely how any future government ensures their rights and freedoms.”

The insurgents, who captured control of the country after a months-long campaign, seized vast amounts of weaponry, equipment and munitions from the Afghan armed forces, most of it supplied over the past two decades by Washington.

A total of 12 people have been killed in and around the airport in Kabul, Taliban and Nato officials said, since the Taliban seized the city on Sunday.