Iran, Afghanistan exchange heavy gunfire at border

TEHRAN: The Taliban and Iran exchanged heavy gunfire on Saturday on the Islamic Republic’s border with Afghanistan, sharply escalating rising tensions between the two nations amid a dispute over water rights.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted the country’s deputy police chief, Gen. Qassem Rezaei, accusing the Taliban of opening fire first on Saturday morning on the border of Iran’s Sistan and Balochestan province and the Afghan province of Nimroz. IRNA said Iran inflicted “heavy casualties and serious damage.”

Taliban-controlled media in Afghanistan did not acknowledge the fighting.

The advocacy group Halvash, which reports on issues affecting the Baloch people in province of Sistan and Balochestan, quoted residents in the area saying the fighting took place near the Kang district of Nimroz. It said some people in the area had fled the violence.

Videos posted online, purportedly from the area, included the crackle of machine gun fire in the distance. Halvash later posted an image of what appeared to be the remains of a mortar round, saying that “heavy weapons and mortars are being used.” A later video from Halvash purported to show Iranian forces firing a mortar.

“The border forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will decisively respond to any border trespassing and aggression, and the current authorities of Afghanistan must be held accountable for their unmeasured and contrary actions to international principles,” IRNA quoted Iran’s police chief, Gen. Ahmadreza Radan, as saying.

The clash comes as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi earlier this month warned the Taliban not to violate Iran’s water rights to the Helmand River. Raisi’s remarks represented some of the strongest yet over the long-running concerns about water in Iran.

Drought has been a problem in Iran for some 30 years, but has worsened over the past decade, according to the UN’S Food and Agriculture Organisation. The Iran Meteorological Organisation says that an estimated 97% of the country now faces some level of drought.

The Taliban seized Afghanistan in August 2021 as US and Nato troops were in the final weeks of their pullout from the country ater 20 years of war. In the time since, Afghanistan has become the most repressive in the world for women and girls, depriving them of virtually all their basic rights, according to the UN Hunger remains endemic.

While not directly accepting the Taliban government, Iran has maintained relations with Afghanistan’s new rulers. Tehran also has called on the Taliban to allow women and girls to go to school.