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washington – After weeks of tensions over water rights to the Helmand River that escalated to a lethal conflict final week, Iran says it has made progress in negotiations with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers over the shared waterway.
On Thursday, Iranian Overseas Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian instructed Iranian state media, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, that his authorities had “good negotiations” with the Taliban.
“We’ve the water rights situation on the agenda, and the [Iranian] president has assigned Hassan Kazemi Qomi [Iranian ambassador to Afghanistan] to comply with up on the matter, with the view that the problems between the 2 nations ought to go within the direct route and be resolved,” stated Amir Abdollahian.
The tensions between Iran and the Taliban escalated after Iran accused the de facto authorities of Afghanistan of proscribing the move of water to Iran.
Lethal clashes between the 2 sides broke out final week by which two Iranian safety forces and a Taliban guard had been killed.
Iran Exchanges Heavy Gunfire With Taliban on Afghan Border, Escalating Tensions Over Water Rights
The tensions started final month after Iran President Ebrahim Raisi warned the Taliban to ‘honor’ Iran’s rights over the Helmand River.
“We is not going to enable the rights of our folks to be violated,” Raisi stated throughout his go to to the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan on Could 18, including that the Taliban ought to take his phrases ‘severely.’
Afghanistan Appearing Overseas Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi stated that the Taliban had been dedicated to the 1973 water treaty between Afghanistan and Iran. However he added that “the drought in Afghanistan and the area shouldn’t be neglected.”
“It has change into a very political situation in each Afghanistan and Iran,” stated Fatemeh Aman, a senior fellow on the Center East Institute.
In 1973, Iran and Afghanistan signed the Helmand River Water Treaty, which requires Afghanistan to offer 850 million cubic meters of water to Iran from the river in a ‘regular’ yr.
Longtime situation
Aman stated the water dispute “existed, and it goes again over centuries.”
“The issue is that the difficulty simply went away each time there was sufficient rain or water. However the situation surfaced as soon as there was a drought or lack of rain.”
In 1973, Iran and Afghanistan signed the Helmand River Water Treaty. In line with the treaty, Afghanistan ought to present 850 million cubic meters of water to Iran from the Helmand River in a ‘regular’ yr.
Kazemi Qomi stated that regardless of the treaty, Iran has obtained solely about 4 % of its share of water.
The Helmand River, the longest river in Afghanistan, is about 1,150 kilometers (715 miles) lengthy. Constituting over 40 % of Afghanistan’s floor water, the river is a vital supply of livelihood for the nation’s southern and southwestern provinces.
It feeds Hamun Lake in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province, the province’s principal water supply.
Persistent droughts, local weather change and an absence of correct water administration have introduced tensions over the transboundary waters between the 2 neighbors.
Though water safety frictions are more and more widespread for nations with shared waterways, it’s unclear how a lot the dispute between Iran and Afghanistan might escalate.
Michael O’Hanlon, director of analysis on the Brookings Establishment, instructed VOA that he didn’t anticipate tensions between Iran and Afghanistan to “boil into a bigger drawback for the area.”
“I feel what you’re looking at is mostly a query of how a lot will they cooperate on points that they’ve a standard curiosity in, like border management, counternarcotics, points like that, the place you can see the cooperation,” O’Hanlon stated.
‘Difficult’ relations
Throughout the civil battle in Afghanistan within the Nineteen Nineties, Iran supported the Afghan forces combating in opposition to the Taliban, significantly after the Taliban killed 9 Iranian diplomats within the northern metropolis of Mazar-e-Sharif in 1998.
Iran cultivated nearer relations with the Taliban earlier than the autumn of Kabul, as either side had been united in opposition to U.S. forces within the area.
Iran Cultivates Taliban Ties to Achieve Leverage, Specialists Say
Whereas Iran has not acknowledged the Taliban because the authentic authorities of Afghanistan, it has handed the Afghan Embassy in Tehran over to the group.
Iran Fingers Over Afghan Embassy in Tehran to Taliban
Regardless of shut diplomatic ties, skirmishes over the border have been reported lately.
Ryan Crocker, a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, instructed VOA that the relations between Iran and the Taliban “are very difficult.”
“The very last thing that this area must see some type of border battle between Iran and Afghanistan,” he stated.
This story originated in VOA’s Afghan Service.
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