Taliban Affirms Iranian Technical Delegation Inspected Water Scarcity at the Helmand River

Iranian President's envoy to Afghanistan meets Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul in May. (IRNA)
Iranian President's envoy to Afghanistan meets Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul in May. (IRNA)
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Taliban Affirms Iranian Technical Delegation Inspected Water Scarcity at the Helmand River

Iranian President's envoy to Afghanistan meets Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul in May. (IRNA)
Iranian President's envoy to Afghanistan meets Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul in May. (IRNA)

The Foreign Ministry of the Taliban government announced Sunday that an Iranian technical delegation has inspected the water situation in the Helmand River, amid an ongoing dispute over water rights between both countries.

“Iranian experts have observed the water levels in the Helmand River,” Iranian news agencies cited the country’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, as saying.

Qomi said the delegation is currently in Kabul and will soon share its assessment with Tehran.

It is the first time Iranian experts visit the Deh Rawood hydrometric station of the Helmand River to inspect the water level.

Later, the Foreign Ministry of the Taliban government said in a statement that an Iranian technical delegation visited the Deh Rawood hydrometric station to analyze the level of water.

“After the observation, the Iranian delegation found that the Helmand River has a minimum water flow and its tributaries are completely dry and only flow in flood situations. Therefore, it has become very difficult for Helmand River water to reach the delta area [in Iran],” the statement said.

Also, based on the analysis, it can be clearly seen that no human act is involved in the water flow decrease to Iran, the statement read.

The state-run ISNA news agency quoted an official at the Iranian Energy Ministry as saying that since the two countries signed an agreement to share water in 1973, it was the first time a team of Iranian experts visited a station at the Helmand River.

Iran signed an agreement in 1973 for Afghanistan to supply a stipulated amount of water in “normal” climate conditions from the Helmand, a more than 1,000-kilometer waterway that runs from the Afghan Hindu Kush mountains through the country and into Iran.

Last week, Bloomberg reported that tension has prevailed over the Iran-Afghanistan borders that span over 900 kilometers upon pressures put by Tehran on the government of “Taliban” regarding the former’s share of water from the Helmand River that flows into Hamun Lake in Iranian Baluchestan province.

In mid-May, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi issued a warning to the Taliban: honor Afghanistan’s water-supply agreement or face the consequences.

A well-known Taliban figure offered a mocking gift of a 20-liter water container in response and told him to stop making terrifying ultimatums.

About a week later, a skirmish erupted on the border, leaving two Iranian guards and one Taliban member dead. The Taliban sent thousands of troops and hundreds of suicide bombers to the area, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg, claiming the group is prepared for war with Iran over a water dispute.

The editorial of the Iranian reformist Ham-Mihan newspaper had strongly attacked the Taliban, warning of “serious security conflicts” between Iran and the Afghan movement.

Heshmatullah Falahatpisheh, a former member of parliament and chairman of the body's Foreign Policy Commission, said that more than 1.5 million Afghans with a military background entered Iranian territory after the Taliban took over.

He claimed that 10,000 Afghan migrants enter Iranian territory every day, and also mentioned the presence of one Afghan for every 8 Iranians. Falahatpisheh then warned of a demographic change in some cities.

Meanwhile, the Iranian website, Tebyan, revealed that “Iran has relinquished part of its territory to the Taliban.”

In the past days, a photo circulated on social media showed Iran building a wall on the borders between the two countries.

Tebyan said that farmers in the Sistan region in the northern Iranian province of Baluchestan lost 2,000 hectares due to the security wall being built by the Iranian authorities with the aim of countering drug smugglers from Afghanistan.



Pope Had a Peaceful Night After Pneumonia Diagnosis, Vatican Says

People walk outside the Gemelli Hospital, where Pope Francis is admitted to continue treatment for a respiratory tract infection, in Rome, Italy, February 18, 2025. (Reuters)
People walk outside the Gemelli Hospital, where Pope Francis is admitted to continue treatment for a respiratory tract infection, in Rome, Italy, February 18, 2025. (Reuters)
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Pope Had a Peaceful Night After Pneumonia Diagnosis, Vatican Says

People walk outside the Gemelli Hospital, where Pope Francis is admitted to continue treatment for a respiratory tract infection, in Rome, Italy, February 18, 2025. (Reuters)
People walk outside the Gemelli Hospital, where Pope Francis is admitted to continue treatment for a respiratory tract infection, in Rome, Italy, February 18, 2025. (Reuters)

Pope Francis spent a peaceful fifth night in hospital and ate breakfast on Wednesday, the Vatican said in its latest update on the pontiff's fragile health.

Francis has the onset of double pneumonia, the Vatican said on Tuesday, complicating treatment for the 88-year-old pope who was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on February 14.

Double pneumonia is a serious infection that can inflame and scar both lungs and makes breathing more difficult.

The Vatican had said previously that the pope had a polymicrobial infection, which occurs when two or more micro-organisms are involved, adding that he would stay in hospital as long as necessary to tackle a "complex clinical situation".

The pope has been plagued by ill health in recent years, including regular bouts of flu, sciatica nerve pain and an abdominal hernia that required surgery in 2023. As a young adult he developed pleurisy and had part of one lung removed.

All the pope's public engagements have been cancelled through Sunday and he has no further official events on the Vatican's published calendar.