Former Iranian diplomat: Taliban monopolizing all of Helmand water for own use

“Aerial images show fields lying alongside the route from the origin of the water all the way to the Iranian border, which used to be arid, have now turned into green farms,” said Mohsen Rouhisefat.

“Even illicit drugs are being cultivated in these fields,” he added.

“This shows they (the Taliban) are using the entire water of the Helmand River to irrigate these fields,” he noted.

“Those who are at the helm of affairs [in Iran] look at all issues from a military and security perspective, not from a civilizational and cultural one,” he said.

“They even have misinterpretations and miscalculations with regards to the very same security and military issues,” the ex-diplomat explained.

“This does not mean that they should fight with the Taliban to secure the country’s water right; rather, they should have maintained the necessary leverage against the Taliban, so that they would have the bargaining power today,” he said.

“Iranian authorities have a wrong understanding of these relations and issues,” he noted.