Afghanistan's state-run news agency reported a powerful earthquake struck a rural, mountainous region of the country's east, killing 1,000 people and injuring 1,500 more.
Wednesday's quake was one of the deadliest in decades. Officials warned that the already grim toll may still rise.
Information remained scarce on the magnitude 5.9 earthquake near the Pakistani border. But quakes of that strength can cause severe damage in an area where homes and other buildings are poorly constructed and landslides are common.
The disaster posed a major test for the Taliban-led government. The Taliban seized power last year as the U.S. planned to pull out from the country.
The U.S. does not have a presence in the nation currently, and the embassy operates out of Qatar.
"We are deeply saddened by reports of an earthquake in eastern Afghanistan," said the Twitter account for the US Embassy in Kabul posted Wednesday."
The earthquake was roughly 300 miles north-northeast of a deadly magnitude 6.4 earthquake that occurred on Oct. 10, 2008, in western Pakistan that killed 166 people and destroyed several villages from triggered landslides.
