ATHENS • Greece said it had completed a 40km fence on its border with Turkey, with a new surveillance system in place to stop possible asylum seekers from trying to reach Europe following the Taleban's takeover of Afghanistan.

Events in Afghanistan have fuelled fears in the European Union of a repeat of the 2015 refugee crisis, when nearly a million people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and beyond crossed to Greece from Turkey before travelling north to wealthier states.

Greece was on the front line of that crisis and has said its border forces are on alert to make sure it does not become Europe's gateway again.

The Afghanistan crisis had created "possibilities for migrant flows", Citizens' Protection Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis said after visiting the region of Evros on Friday with the defence minister and the head of the armed forces.

"We cannot wait, passively, for the possible impact," he told reporters. "Our borders will remain safe and inviolable."

Mr Chrisochoidis said the extension to the existing 12.5km fence had been completed in recent days, along with a high-tech, automated electronic monitoring system.

Migrant arrivals to Greece, either by land or sea, have slowed to a trickle since 2016, when the EU agreed to a deal with Turkey to stem the flows in exchange for financial support.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed Afghanistan on the phone on Friday. Mr Erdogan said Afghanistan and Iran - a key route for Afghans into Turkey - should be supported or a new migration wave was "inevitable".

Greece and Turkey, Nato allies and historic rivals, have long been at odds over migrant issues and territorial claims in the eastern Mediterranean.

Greece has hardened its migration policy in recent months by fencing off its migrant camps and launching EU-wide tenders to build two closed-type facilities on the islands of Samos and Lesbos, close to Turkey. It has, in the past, stopped people from entering its waters.

REUTERS