BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by phone on Wednesday with US President Joe Biden about the situation in Afghanistan, her office said.
During the call, Merkel stressed the importance of enabling as many Afghans as possible who supported German military and civilian efforts in the country to leave.
The two leaders "agreed to fly out as many people in need of protection as possible," her office said.
Germany's foreign minister said his country's ambassador in Kabul has begun talks in Doha with Taliban representatives to ensure they allow Afghans to reach the airport.
Heiko Maas said Germany has flown more than 500 people out of Afghanistan, including about 200 Afghan citizens, since Sunday "and we want to continue doing so in this quantity in the coming days."
Maas said the assumption is that the window for evacuation flights will be limited "but all those in positions of responsibility on the ground, in particular the United States, are trying to use this time as best as possible."
He added that according to his information there are currently hundreds, if not thousands of people massed outside the gates of the airport, and sporadic outburst of violence.
Maas said Germany is also trying to bring supplies of food to Kabul to provide for those waiting to be evacuated, and has a Medevac plane in the region.
Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said Germany would "do everything to get as many local staff out of Kabul as possible."
Britain's ambassador to Kabul says his team has got "days, not weeks" to speed up the evacuation of British nationals and Afghans who worked with U.K. forces.
Laurie Bristow said his team helped 700 people fly out on military flights on Tuesday, and the goal is to help 1,000 people each day.
"We are trying to scale up the speed and pace over the next couple of days," he told Sky News.
"We're working on the basis of days, not weeks, so we really do have to get those numbers through." Gen. Nick Carter, head of the British armed forces, said he expected seven aircraft to head to Kabul to enable another 1,000 people to leave on Wednesday.
Bristow said the Taliban are supporting the operation and his team is working with them "where we need to, at a tactical, practical level."
"My assessment is that they see it as in their interests to help it to happen in an orderly and clear way," he said.
"Obviously it's in our interests for them to see it that way."
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said earlier on Wednesday that authorities had so far secured the safe return of 306 British citizens and 2,052 Afghans, with a further 2,000 Afghan applications completed and many more being processed.
Afghanistan is not a safe place to deport migrants to, but the European Union should try to assist displaced people inside the conflict-ravaged country or elsewhere in the region rather than wait until they arrive on Europe's doorstep, the bloc's top migration official said Wednesday.
"It's not possible to send people back to Afghanistan in these days. It's not safe," EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said in a video statement.
But Johansson said that "it's important that we can help these people in Afghanistan, when possible, to return to their homes. We also need to help neighbouring countries and support Afghanis and these neighbouring countries in the region."
Speaking after a videoconference with EU interior ministers, she said that Europe "should not wait until people stand at our external border. We need to help them before that. It's also important that we help those under immediate threat to be resettled to EU member states."
Afghans are among the biggest group of people from a single country applying for international protection in Europe, after Syrians.
According to some EU estimates, around 570,000 Afghans have applied for asylum in Europe since 2015.
Asylum applications by Afghan nationals 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 lodged in May, according to the EU's asylum office.
About half of the applications tend to be successful.
The arrival of well over a million migrants in 2015, mostly from Syria and Iraq, sparked one of the 27-nation EU's biggest crises as nations bickered over how best to manage the influx.
The infighting continues today, and a new wave of migrants from Afghanistan is likely to exacerbate tensions.
Austria's interior minister called Wednesday for "deportation centers" to be built in countries neighbouring Afghanistan.
"It is important to keep up the rule of law and credibility even in a crisis like Afghanistan is experiencing right now. And it should continue to be possible to especially deport violent asylum seekers," Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said.
"It must be our goal to keep the majority of the people in the region."
The U.N.'s refugee agency has called for a moratorium on the forced return of Afghan nationals, including asylum seekers who have had their claims rejected.
Neighboring countries are also likely to be overburdened.
The UNHCR said "it would not be appropriate to forcibly return nationals or former habitual residents of Afghanistan to countries in the region, in view of the fact that countries such as Iran and Pakistan have for decades generously hosted the vast majority of the total global number of Afghan refugees."