Russian President Vladimir Putin and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met in the Russian resort city of Sochi on Tuesday where the two officials discussed a number of key issues including Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, and Venezuela.  

In the meeting with Pompeo, Putin reportedly described the situation in Afghanistan complicated and said that the Taliban’s position was getting stronger. 

"On the issue of Afghanistan, the (Russian) president and the (US) secretary of state also noted rather good cooperation between specialists of our countries. Moreover, our president noted that settlement in Afghanistan is a rather complicated issue as the process itself is difficult. At the same time, the positions of the Taliban are getting stronger. So we need to step up cooperation and try to achieve the balance of power in this country," Tass News agency reported quoting Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov as saying. 

Meanwhile, Pompeo said that Russia and the US have done good work on Afghanistan, especially in the area of counterprograms. 

“On Afghanistan, we’ve done good work – counterterrorism work – together. These are things we can build upon and I know we’ll get a chance to talk about our strategic security dialogue as well and the hopes that we have for that to work alongside you on that very, very globally important project,” said Pompeo. 

In the meantime, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg who is on a trip to the UK held talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May in London where they discussed preparations for NATO’s heads of state summit and the situation in Afghanistan. 

“The Secretary General and the Prime Minister further discussed prospects for peace in Afghanistan, and highlighted the importance of training local forces in partner countries in the fight against terrorism,” according to a NATO statement.