(NewsReady.com) – Water is the most valuable resource on Earth. Shortages of the resource are leading to conflicts, like the one between Iran and Afghanistan. Recently, a former member of the Afghan government issued a threat after a shootout along its border.
At the end of May, a number of clashes took place between Iran and Afghanistan along the border the countries share. One Afghan guard and at least two Iranians were killed in a shootout. Both sides have accused the other of starting the dispute.
On May 28, Abdul Hamid Khorasani, who resigned as a district governor in mid-May, spoke about the conflict. He said Afghans would fight Iran “with more passion” than they did when they fought America and said his military would conquer the neighboring nation if the Taliban “give[s] a green light for jihad.”
The Taliban government isn’t singing the same tune as the former governor. Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Hafiz Zia Ahmad recently told reporters that his government doesn’t “want relations with [its] neighboring countries to deteriorate,” saying they do not favor an escalation.
On the day of the clash, the countries sent representatives to meet one another over a deal regarding the water dispute. That stems from the Taliban’s decision to dam parts of the Helmand River, which provides water to Iran, to create electricity and irrigate farmland.
Iran has experienced a prolonged drought and depends on the water to survive. Currently, there’s a decades-old agreement in place known as the Helmand Water Treaty that requires Afghanistan to provide 850 million cubic meters of water from the river to the Iranians each year. However, Iran has accused Afghanistan of not adhering to the treaty on more than one occasion.
The meeting between the countries indicates both sides want to reach an agreement without the issuing devolving into a much larger conflict.
Copyright 2023, NewsReady.com
