Afghan President Ashraf Ghani met Sunday with U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and discussed mutual cooperation in Afghanistan's fight against the Taliban and Islamic State group.
US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation troops have been at war in Afghanistan since 2001, after the ousting of the Taliban regime for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden following the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
The Afghan presidential palace said via Twitter that the two sides discussed "bilateral ties, security, counter-terrorism and development".
The adviser, H.R. McMaster, was making the first high-level visit by a Trump official.
Trump, who took office on January 20, had asked US officials, including some in the Treasury and Commerce departments, to work together to integrate the various political, diplomatic, military and economic responses available, McMaster said.
At the meeting, Ghani said that the Afghan government has taken practical steps to fight corruption and that it will increase efforts to combat the scourge.
It said many analysts, as well as some coalition partners, have been critical of the United States' uphill struggle to persuade Pakistan to crack down on the Afghan Taliban leadership, which has used Pakistan as a base for its battles in Afghanistan.
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On Thursday, the USA military dropped a GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, one of the largest conventional weapons ever used in combat, during an operation against Islamic State militants in eastern Afghanistan.
"We have also given details about our reform process and our plans in fighting corruption to McMaster, who also emphasized the need to fight corruption", he said.
Hamid Karzai, the former Afghan president, told Al Jazeera the bombing was an "inhuman act, a brutal act against an innocent country".
McMaster praised anti-corruption efforts and assured Ghani that the U.S. would continue to support and cooperate with Afghanistan on a number of issues.
The top US commander in Afghanistan has said he needs "several thousand" more troops to help the Afghans take on a resurgent Taliban and battle other insurgents, but no official plan has been announced.
"Many people in Afghanistan are wondering about the nature of relations between the United States and Pakistan, particularly the fact that everyone recognisers the principal role of Pakistan in supporting Taliban and other terrorist groups", said Davood Moradian, the director of the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies.
In testimony before Congress in February, Nicholson said the U.S. was at a "stalemate" in Afghanistan and requested thousands of more troops.
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