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German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday called for coordinated, "controlled" EU action to take in the most vulnerable people from Afghanistan after the Taliban regained control over the country, AFP reported. 

Merkel told reporters in Berlin that people fleeing Afghanistan should be helped first and foremost in neighbouring countries in coordination with the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR.

"Then we can think about, as a second step, whether especially affected people can be brought to Europe in a controlled way," she said after talks with Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.

She acknowledged deep, longstanding divisions within the EU on the subject of asylum, calling a "weakness" of the 27-member bloc "which we have to work on in earnest".

Merkel's comments came as Germany tried to establish an "airlift" to ferry German citizens and hundreds of Afghan local staff who worked with them out of Kabul to safety.