Iran, Taliban clash on border

Clashes between Iranian forces and the Taliban on the border have left two people dead and many injured, amid a dispute over water rights.

"Iranian border guards opened fire towards Afghanistan and were retaliated," Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafy Takor posted on Twitter on May 27, adding that the clash occurred in the southwestern border province of Nimroz.

Meanwhile, Iran's IRNA news agency quoted deputy police commander Qassem Rezaee as saying that "the Taliban started firing with various weapons" at an Iranian police station in Sistan-Baluchistan province. According to Tasnim , "light weapons and artillery were used in the clashes".

"The Taliban forces do not comply with international law and neighborly friendship, which leads to our response," Rezaee said.

Smoke rises from fighting in a village on the border between Iran and Afghanistan on May 27. Photo: Iranintl

Iranian police gave no details about casualties, while Mehr reported that an Iranian border guard was killed.

"During the clash, one person was killed on each side and many were injured," Nafy Takor added. "The issue has been communicated to the leaders of both sides and the situation is under control. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan does not want conflict with its neighbour."

The source of the border clash is unclear. Iran does not recognize the Taliban government and relations between the two countries have been strained recently over a water dispute. Last week, Iran demanded that Afghanistan respect its “water rights,” alleging that a dam upstream of the Helmand River was restricting the flow of water into a lake that straddles the two countries’ shared border.

During a visit to the arid southeast on May 18, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi demanded that the Taliban "immediately grant water rights to the people of Sistan-Baluchistan."

The Helmand River is more than 1,000 km long, flowing from the mountains of the province of the same name in central Afghanistan into Lake Hamoun, which straddles the Afghanistan-Iran border. Afghanistan says climate factors have reduced the river's flow.

Iran insists its right to use the Helmand River water is legally defined in a 1973 agreement between the two sides and has asked the Taliban leadership to uphold the agreement. Tehran said last week it reserved the right to take action to resolve the dispute.

Location of Helmand. Graphic: Al Jazeera

Huyen Le (According to AFP , Reuters )

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