Following the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, Germany's federal states say they are ready to receive numerous refugees and have called on the German interior minister to initiate a nation-wide program for the admission of Afghans1
The UN refugee agency has called for a stop to deportations to Afghanistan. It has also asked neighboring countries to keep their borders open and to welcome new Afghan refugees.
Some EU officials have claimed Minsk is using "hybrid warfare" by deliberately sending migrants to Lithuania. Poland has sent additional troops to its border with Belarus to handle the influx.
States have called on Interior Minister Seehofer to start a new Afghan refugee program for people who helped German forces on site. One coordinator told DW he had been lobbying Angela Merkel to get people out for months.
The foreign minister of Luxembourg, Jean Asselborn, has urged the European Union to accept quotas of refugees from Afghanistan. But some EU countries, including Austria, say Afghans fleeing the Taliban takeover should not be offered1