Taliban say living up to watershare treaty with Iran if there is rain

A spokesman for the Taliban has claimed Afghanistan is grappling with a drought and that all Afghans are facing water shortages, making Iran’s right to the Hirmand River water conditional on the existence of water.

Zabihullah Mujahed said if there is water enough, the Taliban will respect the 1972 treaty between the two countries, under which Iran is entitled to use 820 million cubic meters of the Hirmand River water.

Earlier, Iran and Afghanistan formed a working group to pursue the issue of Iran’s right to water of Hirmand.

The Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Motaqqi has previously said, “Just as we care about our own people, we also care about the people of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan Province”, bordering Afghanistan.

Motaqqi stressed that Afghanistan abides by the 1972 treaty between Tehran and Kabul.

He however warned against politicizing the water right issue, and instead called for resolving it through dialog.

Despite such conciliatory comments, since their takeover of Afghanistan over two years ago, the Taliban officials have on several occasions ignored calls for Kabul to respect Iran’s right to the water of the border river.

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