The Taliban and Iran exchanged fire on the Islamic Republic’s border with Afghanistan on Saturday
Posted Date – Sat, 5/27/23 at 11:50pm
The Taliban and Iran exchanged fire on the Islamic Republic’s border with Afghanistan on Saturday
Dubai: The Taliban and Iran exchanged fire on Saturday on the Islamic Republic’s border with Afghanistan, as tensions between the two countries escalated sharply over a dispute over water rights.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted the country’s deputy police chief, General Qassem Rezai, as saying the Taliban accused the Taliban of opening fire Saturday morning on the border between Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan provinces and Afghanistan’s Nimruz province. IRNA said Iran had caused “significant casualties and severe damage”. Media controlled by the Afghan Taliban did not acknowledge the fighting.
Advocacy group HalVash, reporting on issues affecting the people of Baluch
The Sunni provinces of Sistan and Balochistan cited residents in the area as saying the fighting took place near the Kham district of Nimruz. It said some people in the area had fled the violence.
Video posted online purported to be from the area included the crackle of machine gun fire in the distance. HalVash later posted an image of what appeared to be the wreckage of a mortar shell, saying “heavy weapons and mortars were being used”.
A later video from HalVash purportedly showed Iranian troops firing a mortar.
“The border forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will respond decisively to any border crossing and aggression, and the current Afghan authorities must be held accountable for their unrestrained and violation of international principles,” IRNA quoted Iran’s police chief, General Ahmadreza, as saying bin Laden.
The clashes came as Iranian President Ibrahim Rashid warned the Taliban earlier this month not to violate Iran’s water rights to the Helmand River. Raisy’s comments represent the strongest concerns Iran has had over water in a long time.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the drought problem has existed in Iran for about 30 years, but has worsened in the past decade.
Iran’s Meteorological Organization said an estimated 97 percent of the country now faced some
degree of drought.
The Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, just as U.S. and NATO forces were in the final weeks of withdrawing from the country in a 20-year war. Since then, Afghanistan has become the most oppressive country in the world for women and girls, denying them almost all of their basic rights, according to the United Nations. Hunger is still common.
While not directly accepting the Taliban government, Iran maintains relations with Afghanistan’s new rulers. Tehran has also called on the Taliban to allow women and girls to go to school.
Earlier on Saturday, acting Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met with an Iranian envoy to Afghanistan to discuss the Helmand River crisis, according to a tweet by Afghan foreign ministry official Zia Ahmed. Water rights issue. IRNA acknowledged the meeting, saying “problems between the two countries will be better resolved through dialogue”.
But tensions have been rising. Another video posted online in recent days purportedly shows a confrontation with Iranian troops and the Taliban as Iranian construction workers try to fortify the border between the two countries.
In recent days, pro-Taliban online accounts have also been sharing a video with a song calling on acting Defense Minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqub to stand up to Iran. Mullah Yakub is the son of Mullah Mohammad Omar, the late founder and first supreme leader of the Taliban.
“We are the government and we have the power,” the song sings. “Our leader, Mullah Yakub, will be against Iran, otherwise we are not a government of the republic. We are not slaves, and our leader, Mullah Yakub, will be against Iran.”
