Iran, Taliban exchange gunfire amid water row

The Taliban and Iran have exchanged heavy gunfire on the Islamic Republic’s border with Afghanistan, killing and wounding troops while sharply escalating tensions between the two countries amid a dispute over water rights.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted the country’s deputy police chief General Qassem Rezaei, accusing the Taliban of opening fire first on Saturday morning on the border of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan province and the Afghan province of Nimroz.

IRNA said Iran inflicted “heavy casualties and serious damage”.

But Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor accused Iran of shooting first. Takor said the firefight killed two people, one from each country, and wounded others.

IRNA, quoting Iranian police, said one border guard had been killed. However, that number may be higher. The semi-official, English-language newspaper Tehran Times said the fighting killed three Iranian border guards. IRNA said the Milak border crossing with Afghanistan, a major trade route, was closed until further notice over the gunfight.

“Afghanistan considers dialogue to be a reasonable way for any problem,” Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khawarazmi said.

“Making excuses for war and negative actions is not in the interest of any of the parties.”

The advocacy group HalVash, which reports on issues affecting the Baloch people in the predominately Sunni province of Sistan and Baluchistan, 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 General 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 Organization. The Iran Meteorological Organisation said about 97 per cent of the country faced some level of drought.

The Taliban seized Afghanistan in August 2021 as the United States and Nato troops were in the final weeks of their pull-out from the country after 20 years of war. Since then, Afghanistan has become the most repressive nation in the world for women and girls, depriving them of virtually all their basic rights.

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

Making excuses for war and negative actions is not in the interest of any of the parties

ENAYATULLAH KHAWARAZMI, AFGHAN DEFENCE MINISTRY SPOKESMAN