Fighting in the region has escalated significantly in recent weeks after the US-led military coalition began their withdrawal which is set to be complete by the end of the month. At least 27 children have been killed and more than 130 injured across three days amid the ferocious violence, an atrocity the UN children’s agency Unicef has called a “rapid escalation of grave violations against children”. There are fears among European leaders that this violence will spark a mass migration out of the country which could resemble the 2015 refugee crisis, when millions of Syrians fled the fighting rocking their country.

       The collapse of the Afghan government could cause a similar mass migration.

       A joint letter addressed to the European Commission and signed by ministers from Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Greece and Denmark asks for deportations to the country for rejected asylum applicants to continue, despite the Taliban’s escalating violence.

       The letter said: “Stopping returns sends the wrong signal.”

       READ MORE: Afghanistan Crisis: Kabul set to fall to Taliban 'Question of when'

       Germany's defence minister rejected calls for its soldiers to return to Afghanistan after Taliban insurgents took Kunduz – an area where German troops were deployed for a decade.

       Ghulam Rasool, an engineer, was trying to hire a bus to get his family to the capital as the fighting engulfed his hometown.

       Mr Rasool said: "We may just be forced to walk till Kabul, but we are not sure if we could be killed on the way. ... Ground clashes were not just stopping even for 10 minutes."

       FOLLOW BELOW FOR LIVE UPDATES…