Taliban seizure of power in Afghanistan: Many people are desperately seeking protection.
But where should refugees stay?
The Union warns of a second 2015. The situation can hardly be compared.
Munich - Chaos at Kabul Airport.
People cling to planes.
Videos show a crowd of people chasing desperately after a rolling US Air Force plane.
Meanwhile, German politicians are warning of a renewed movement of refugees.
"2015 must not be repeated," says Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet (CDU).
Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) reckons with up to five million people who now want to flee the Taliban.
Chancellor Angela Merkel is counting on accommodation in the neighboring states of Afghanistan.
"Before you talk about contingents, you have to talk about safe options for refugees in the neighborhood of Afghanistan," she says.
Party colleagues such as CDU Vice Thomas Strobl or Federal Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner are also demanding that the admission of refugees must be limited.
UNHCR: Most of the refugees don't even make it out of Afghanistan
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has "no evidence of a large movement of refugees to Europe". UNHCR spokesman Chris Melzer says: "Most of the people are internally displaced and have little opportunity to leave the country." The Taliban controlled the traffic routes. And those who make it abroad would seek refuge in the immediate vicinity of Afghanistan anyway - as more than 90 percent of the refugees have done so far.
During the refugee movement in 2015 and 2016, more than 1.1 million people fled to Germany, many of them from Syria, a country with civil war.
Christian Wagner thinks such dimensions are unlikely.
The Asia expert from the Science and Politics Foundation says: Most people would want to flee to Pakistan, Iran and Tajikistan in particular.
Hundreds of thousands of refugees are already there (see graphic).
"They speak the languages, have a certain cultural closeness to the states and stay close to their homeland - after all, people hope that they will be able to return at some point."
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According to UNHCR estimates, 3.5 million people are displaced within Afghanistan.
Those who make it abroad usually find shelter in Iran or Pakistan.
The figures show how many Afghans are currently on the run.
© Graphic: Münchner Merkur
However, the neighboring countries would also fear strong refugee flows in the event of a civil war in Afghanistan.
"That is why Pakistan has already secured its border more strongly in recent years," says Wagner.
Uzbekistan has already announced that it wants to prevent refugee movements.
Merkel: "The weak point of our European Union is that we have not yet achieved a common asylum policy"
“But the past has shown that the neighboring countries will certainly take in the refugees,” says Wagner. Tajikistan, for example, is building a camp for asylum seekers. "The West will have to intensify its cooperation with the United Nations Refugee Agency in order to take care of the refugees there."
Merkel sought talks with the UNHCR yesterday.
One could also think about “whether people who are particularly affected come to Europe and other European countries in a controlled and supported manner,” she says.
A common European position is not easy, however.
"It is a weak point in our European Union that we have not yet achieved a common asylum policy." The EU Foreign Affairs Representative Josep Borrell said on Tuesday after a meeting of the 27 foreign ministers that one would have to talk to the Taliban about a new migration disaster and another prevent humanitarian crisis.
Escape routes to Europe are blocked
Refugees are currently barely able to come to Europe. Turkey is building a wall on the border with Iran - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will not tolerate a “wave of migration” through Iran. Greece, as Turkey's western neighbor, “does not want to become the EU's gateway”, said Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis. And even those who make it to Greece will not get far from there via the old Balkan route: Hungary has erected a metal fence to Serbia, in Bulgaria and Croatia the police are evacuating refugees from the country. (with dpa)