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Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi
Photo: IMAGO/Iranian Presidency Office \ apaimages / IMAGO/APAimages
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi has warned the Taliban government in Afghanistan in the water dispute over a border river. During a visit to the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, Raisi called on the militant Islamist rulers in the neighboring country to abide by a decades-old pact on the use of the border river Helmand. According to the state-run Irna news agency, Raisi was referring to a 1973 treaty that assures Iran of a minimum annual amount of water.
The more than 1000-kilometre-long river is dammed on the Afghan side in the Helmand province of the same name to generate electricity and irrigate agriculture. In Iran, the river flows into Lake Hamun, whose water level fluctuates seasonally and at times even dried up completely. According to Unesco, the lake has thousands of years of settlement history and is best known for its beauty.
A conflict that has remained unresolved for decades
Iran's government is now demanding access to its own experts in Helmand to inspect the water level at the dam. The conflict over the waters of Afghanistan's longest river is years old and predates the Taliban government. The war and humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan over the past four decades have hampered efforts to find a solution.
Iran, with its almost 88 million inhabitants and an area more than four times larger than Germany, has large parts of the country dominated by deserts. Researchers have been warning for years of an increase in droughts in the region, which is particularly hard hit by the consequences of climate change. Since August 2021 and the chaotic withdrawal of Western forces, the Taliban have once again ruled Afghanistan. The situation remains tense in many places.
In the eastern Afghan province of Khost, for example, two children died in an explosion on Monday night. Afghan media had speculated about a possible drone attack with reference to local sources.
dop/dpa