By Fidel Rahmati in The Khaama Press Online, April 17, 2023
Iran has reiterated its claim to disputed shared water resources with Afghanistan.

On Monday, Iran Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian tweeted that he discussed the disputed water resources with his Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi while they were both in Uzbekistan.

“In my recent talks with Mr Muttaqi, acting Foreign Minister of the de facto government of Afghanistan in Samarkand city, we emphasized the issue of Iran’s claim on the Helmand River in detail.”

He continued by saying the Afghan side “also emphasized its commitment to Iran’s water rights,” and both sides “agreed to take immediate action” in this regard, he said in a tweet.

Both sides met on the sidelines of the fourth meeting of the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan in the Samarkand city of Uzbekistan on the 13th of April.

Since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, Iran is said to have undertaken many rounds of negotiations with Taliban leaders, most recently in January 2022 with Muttaqi.

However, Taliban representatives have been in contact with Iran over the issue of sharing Water. They will probably use Water to persuade Tehran to accede to some of their demands. Of course, the top item on their list is that Iran grants the Taliban administration diplomatic recognition. Iran has decided against endorsing the Taliban government until it becomes inclusive.

According to Dr Glen Hearns, who worked as the previous government’s transboundary water advisor between 2012 and 2014, Iran and Afghanistan signed a water-sharing agreement on the Helmand River in 1973, under which Afghanistan would provide Iran with 22 cubic meters of water per second with the option to purchase an additional four cubic meters per second for “goodwill and brotherly relations.”

In other words, based on the agreement of 1973, Afghanistan committed to delivering an average of 820 million cubic meters of water to Iran annually.

Iran has repeatedly criticized Afghanistan for not complying with the terms of the agreement.

However, four decades of political turmoil in the country prevented the treaty’s implementation. Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s turmoil allowed all its rivers to flow to the neighbouring countries, including Helmand River.

Currently, according to the data from the previous government, the Ministry of Water and Energy, Afghanistan only uses 20 per cent of water resources, and the rest of the surface water goes to the neighbouring countries, including Iran and Pakistan.
https://www.khaama.com/iran-reiterates-claim-on-shared-water-resources-with-afghanistan/