Iran says determining water shares to help end dust storms in south Afghanistan

An Iranian official says Afghanistan should work with Iran to determine water shares from Helmand River to help end the dust storms that plague southern Afghanistan.

In a Twitter post on Wednesday, Iranian Special Envoy for Afghanistan Hassan Kazemi Qomi said the dust storms that affect people in southern Afghanistan were deplorable.

“For years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been of the opinion that ecological crises know no border and that regional countries should join hands to tackle that scourge,” Kazemi Qomi said.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran expresses its readiness to transfer the necessary knowledge to prevent this ecological crisis and regards the determination of water shares from Helmand River as being necessary to preventing that challenge.”

He expressed hope that Afghanistan’s current leaders would not repeat the mistake of their predecessors.

Iran and Afghanistan are engaged in a dispute over water shares from Helmand River, whose water flows into Hamoun Lake, in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan Province.

Under the 1973 treaty, Iran is entitled to over 800 million cubic meters per year of water from Helmad, which flows some 1,150 kilometers before reaching the Sistan wetlands in southwestern Afghanistan.

The Taliban, who took power in Afghanistan in August last year, are yet to resolve the matter.

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