Merkel urges cooperation with Turkey on Afghan refugee crisis - report

Germany should cooperate with Turkey in dealing with a potential new refugee influx from Afghanistan, Diken news site cited German Chancellor Angela Merkel as saying on Monday.

The German leader made the remarks ​​during a closed-door meeting of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Diken cited the German Bild newspaper as reporting.

Merkel suggested providing humanitarian support to countries hosting Afghan refugees in the region in a bid to reduce and restrict refugee flows to Europe, it said.

The Taliban on Sunday seized capital Kabul after a major escalation of their military offensive in recent months. Their takeover arrived as the United States and NATO were finalising a full withdrawal from the war-torn country.

Thousands of Afghans, including the president, Ashraf Ghani, rushed to the Kabul Airport in an attempt to flee Afghanistan as an inevitable refugee crisis looms with masses fleeing Taliban rule.

Merkel on Monday said the Taliban’s policies and the situation on Afghanistan's borders could cause Afghans to seek to flee the country and take shelter abroad.

Approximately 1,000 Afghans are believed to be crossing into Turkey every day via Iran, the Economist reported last month. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday said his country was faced with an increasing wave of Afghan nationals attempting to migrate to Turkey through Iran as he urged an international effort to bring stability to the war-battered country.