Staff from Italy's foreign ministry are "in close contact" with the US state department as the Taliban continues to tighten its grip amid a worsening security situation in Afghanistan, the foreign ministry stated on Friday.
"As the Taliban advance in Afghanistan, the foreign ministry is staying in close contact with the US state department," said the statement.
"Foreign ministry director-general Ettore Sequi spoke to deputy US secretary of state Wendy Sherman yesterday and they agreed to ramp up coordination between the embassies of Afghanistan's allies, as well as at bilateral level," the statement added.
Sequi and Sherman also mulled further steps to be taken "in light of the worsening security situation on the ground," the statement concluded.
Western embassies are preparing to send in troops to help evacuate staff from the capital, Kabul, amid fears it will fall to the Taliban.
The Taliban has now controls most of northern Afghanistan and over a third of its regional capitals including the second and third largest cities of Kandahar and Helmand. The hardline Islamist militants have continued a rapid offensive across the country as international forces complete their withdrawal, raises fears they will take Kabul.
