Brussels, European Union (EU) justice and home affairs ministers today met to discuss the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and how Europe will deal with the flow of refugees and migrants it is expected to produce.

The meeting comes the day after the last U.S. forces flew out of Kabul’s international airport, ending America’s longest war.

The 27-nation bloc is looking for ways to prevent a repeat of a 2015 refugee crisis in Syria. A new wave of migrants from Afghanistan is likely to exacerbate tensions.

The EU is likely to provide funding to house refugees in countries bordering Afghanistan to prevent them heading for Europe.

According to some EU estimates, around 570,000 Afghans have applied for asylum in Europe since 2015.

Asylum applications by Afghan nationals have climbed by a third since February as it became clear that the United States would pull troops out of Afghanistan. More than 4,648 applications were recorded in May, according to the EU’s asylum office. About half of the applications tend to be successful, the Associated Press (AP) news reported.

Source: Oman News Agency