Afghanistan crisis: CIA director held secret meeting with Taliban leader Baradar: Reports

CIA Director William Burns traveled to Kabul on Monday to secretly meet with the Taliban's top political leader, Reuters and several other news outlets have reported.

Burns reportedly spoke with Abdul Ghani Baradar as the US faces an August 31 deadline to remove all troops from the country.

Burns is the highest-ranking US official to meet directly with the Taliban since the fundamentalist group took over Afghanistan last week.