WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani agreed that it was time to "accelerate efforts" to end the war in Afghanistan, the State Department said on Thursday.

Pompeo and Ghani spoke by phone on Wednesday, the State Department said. Pompeo assured Ghani that the United States remains committed to a conditions-based drawdown of troops, according to the State Department.

Violence flared in Kabul on Thursday, with two explosions taking place moments after a bus carrying government employees was hit by a blast, killing five people.