Taliban Emphasises on Commitment to Water Agreement Between Iran & Afghanistan

Taliban’s Customs officials said that this cargo belongs to Shams Amin company and was supposed to be transported from Pakistan to Afghanistan.

Taliban said that the driver and a representative of the company has been arrested and handed over to the security officials for further investigation.

On May 3, Taliban’s ministry of finance had said that some explosives had been discovered and seized from Torkham Customs.

The group’s ministry had said that the explosives was skilfully embedded in a commercial cargo to be smuggled into Afghanistan.

According to the Mashregh News, on Thursday, Raisi said, “The rulers of Afghanistan should allow our experts to come and check the truth of the matter. If our experts confirm that there is lack of water there then, we will have no say in the matter. However, we will not allow any violation of the people’s rights.”

Iranian president has said that his government is determined to pursue the issue of Iran’s water rights.

Raisi called on the Taliban and said, “I ask Afghanistan rulers to take my warning seriously and take immediate action, so that people of this region receive their rights.”

On Thursday, Chabahar is hosting a special meeting to follow up on Iran’s water rights. Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister also warned that the Taliban should open the Kajaki dam in Helmand province as soon as possible so that “people of Afghanistan and Iran, both get water”.

Amir Abdollahian during a call with Amir Khan Muttaqi, Taliban’s foreign minister, raised Iran’s demands. Amir Abdollahian and Muttaqi on Wednesday discussed Iran’s water rights during a phone call after the Iranian foreign minister met with his country’s officials in Chabahar.

Amir Abdollahian during a meeting, in which Kazemi Qomi, Iran’s ambassador in Kabul, was also present, said, “Our demand is clear. Taliban claims that the dam doesn’t have enough water, but we have clearly stated that according to the agreement of 1973, a joint technical team should determine it. We submitted the names of our technical team, so that they can visit Kajaki dam and judge if there is enough water or not.”

Earlier, the Taliban had said that they accept of Iran’s water rights. Muttaqi had said that if it rains a lot, water will be released to Iran as well. This comment caused a stir among some of the Iranian officials.

Moinuddin Saeedi, a member of Iran’s parliament said, “While migration from districts of Sistan and Balochistan increase due to lack of water, the Afghan side disrespectfully tells Iran to pray for rain.”

Bahrami stressed that the Taliban's recognition has not been planned by any country as they can't trust the group.

Taliban has denied the internal disagreements, however, many countries and even United Nations’ officials also believe that the group is facing massive intra-group rifts.

Earlier, Scott Smith, the head of the political affairs of United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), had said that a clear example of difference among the Taliban is the group’s different positions regarding the reopening of girls’ schools. According to Smith, Taliban in Kabul have differences with the Kandahari Taliban and Haqqani Network and they don’t know how to govern Afghanistan.

Bahrami on Wednesday at the ‘national conference of Afghanistan and prospect for the future’ which has been held in Iran said, “We must consider the fragility beside all the components of the Taliban's power.”

This former Iranian diplomat believes that there is no consensus about Afghanistan in the region and priorities of the regional countries are different.

According to him, the Western countries also have the ability to disrupt the current situation of the Taliban by using their military leverage, but they have no alternative.

The former ambassador of Iran in Afghanistan said that even if the countries are interacting with Taliban, they will not recognise the Taliban as a legitimate government.

Amir Abdollahian during a call with Amir Khan Muttaqi, Taliban’s foreign minister, raised Iran’s demands.

Amir Abdollahian and Muttaqi on Wednesday discussed Iran’s water rights during a phone call after the Iranian foreign minister met with his country’s officials in Chabahar.

According to Tasnim News Agency, Amir Abdollahian during a meeting, in which Kazemi Qomi, Iran’s ambassador in Kabul, was also present, said, “Our demand is clear. Taliban claims that the dam doesn’t have enough water, but we have clearly stated that according to the agreement of 1973, a joint technical team should determine it. We submitted the names of our technical team, so that they can visit Kajaki dam and judge if there is enough water or not.”

Earlier, the Taliban had said that they accept of Iran’s water rights. Amir Khan Muttaqi had said that if it rains a lot, water will be released to Iran as well. This comment caused a stir among some of the Iranian officials.

Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, who is known for his close ties with Pakistan’s military intelligence, the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI), has replaced Mullah Hassan Akhund, the Taliban’s prime minister.

According to credible sources, four days ago Mullah Hassan held his farewell ceremony in Kandahar in the presence of the Prime Minister and the head of Qatar's intelligence agency, while the news about his resignation from the Taliban premiership was published on Tuesday.

Recently, Mullah Hasan Akhund held fewer meetings with the people and officials, and instead, it was Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, who as the Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs, had more meetings with foreign officials and the Afghan public.

A decree which was attributed to the Taliban leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, announced the appointment of Abdul Kabir, as the new Prime Minister while Mullah Hassan Akhund quietly handed over his position to his former deputy.

According to the decree, Mullah Hassan Akhund has resigned from the position of Prime Minister due to illness.

While many in the Taliban and international powers such as the United States, consider Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of the founders of the Taliban and a close ally to the group’s former leader, Mullah Omar, as the top choice to have succeeded Mullah Hasan Akhund, he still remains on the side lines and didn’t become the Prime Minister of the group. The Taliban’s other deputy prime minister, Abdul Salam Hanafi, also has a symbolic position.

In fact, Mullah Baradar has once again become a victim of past tense relations with Pakistan and his close relationship with former and current US officials such as Zalmay Khalilzad, Thomas West, and Rina Amiri.

Mullah Baradar is now officially a deputy to Mawlawi Abdul Kabir and this is an interesting development of the Taliban that should be closely watched.

Probably, in the coming days, we will see changes in the Taliban's caretaker cabinet, based on which those Taliban members with close ties to Pakistan and Al-Qaida may get appointed to senior positions.

Mawlawi Abdul Kabir is from Paktika province and it is said that he belongs to the Zadran tribe; one that is shared by the Taliban interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani. However, unlike Haqqani, he does not have armed forces or operational capability and has been present mostly in political positions within the Taliban.

Since being appointed as the deputy prime minister, Kabir has been conducting most of the political meetings with the opposition forces of the Taliban, representatives of the international community, and the United Nations in Sapidar Palace, and has shown more moderate position than the extremist circle of Kandahar.

He was previously the governor of Nangarhar during the former Taliban regime in the 1990s. It is said that after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, he was the head of Peshawar Council.

Kabir was later a member of the Taliban's negotiating team in Qatar, and after the fall of the Ghani government, he first became an assistant to Mullah Baradar, who has held the post of the deputy prime minister for economic affairs.

Mawlawi Abdul Kabir remains on the blacklist of the United Nations, and he, like more than ten other members of the Taliban, is not allowed to travel outside of Afghanistan.

According to the United Nations report, he was involved in terrorist activities and drug trafficking in Afghanistan.

He is originally from Paktika, but has lived in northern Baghlan province for many years. He is said to have been a landlord in Baghlan and was behind the bombing attack in Baghlan in 2007, which killed many members of the Afghan parliament, including Sayed Mustafa Kazemi, a former Shia Jihadi commander.