At least three killed in shooting at Iran-Afghan border
Several people were reportedly injured in the clash, which came amid tension between neighbors over water rights.
Two Iranian border guards and a Taliban fighter have been killed after a shooting spree broke out at an Iran-Afghanistan border post, sharply escalating tensions between the two countries amid a dispute over water rights.
“Today, Iranian border forces in Nimroz province fired on Afghanistan, which met with a backlash,” Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor said in a statement.
“The situation is now under control. The Islamic Emirate [Afghanistan] doesn’t want to fight with its neighbours,” the spokesman said, without identifying the victims.
He said one person was killed and several wounded on each side. However, the official Iranian news agency IRNA later said that two Iranian border guards had been killed and two Iranian civilians injured.
According to the semi-official, English-language newspaper Tehran Times, three Iranian border guards have been killed.
The violence came when Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi this month warned the Taliban not to violate a 1973 treaty by restricting water flow from the Helmand River to Iran’s eastern regions. Afghan Taliban leaders have denied the accusation.
Enayatullah Khowarazmi, spokesman for the Taliban Ministry of Defense, said: “Unfortunately, today there was another shooting by Iranian soldiers in the border areas of the Kong district of Nimroz province. [and] a conflict broke out.”
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers dialogue and negotiation as a reasonable way to solve any problem. Making excuses for war and negative actions is not in the interest of either party,” Khowarazmi said.
Iran, in turn, accused the Taliban of firing first.
IRNA quoted Iran’s deputy police chief Qasem Rezaei as saying, “Without observance of international law and good neighborliness, the Taliban forces started firing at the Sasoli checkpoint… and received a decisive response.”
Following the clash, Iranian authorities closed the Milak-Zaranj border post, a major commercial crossing point — and not the site of the clash — until further notice, IRNA said.
According to the outlet, Iranian border guards said in a statement that they had “used their superior heavy fire to inflict casualties and serious damage”.
The advocacy group HalVash, which reports on issues affecting the Baluch people in the predominantly Sunni province of Sistan and Baluchestan, quoted residents in the area as saying the fighting took place near the Kang district of Nimroz. It said some people in the area had fled the violence.
Water rights
Raisi’s comments to the Taliban about Iran’s rights were some of the strongest to date on Iran’s long-running water concerns. The Helmand River, which is over 1,000 kilometers long and flows across the border, is being dammed on the Afghan side to generate electricity and irrigate farmland.
Drought has been a problem in Iran for about 30 years, but has gotten worse in the last decade, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Iran’s Meteorological Organization says an estimated 97 percent of the country is now experiencing some degree of drought.
Earlier on Saturday, acting Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met with an Iranian envoy to Afghanistan to discuss water rights of the Helmand River, according to tweets from Afghan foreign ministry official Zia Ahmad.
But tensions have increased. Another video posted online in recent days reportedly shows a standoff with Iranian troops and the Taliban as Iranian construction workers attempted to strengthen the border between the two countries.
In recent days, pro-Taliban accounts online have also shared a video with a song calling on acting defense minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob to revolt against Iran. Mullah Yaqoob is the son of Mullah Mohammad Omar, the late founder and first Supreme Leader of the Taliban.