Local sources said that the border guards of the Taliban and Iran are engaged in a skirmish in Maki area in Kang district in Nimroz province. According to the sources, the skirmish is currently ongoing, and the two sides have used heavy weapons.
No further details have been provided about the reason behind the border skirmish.
After the fourth meeting of the EU and Central Asia Special Representatives and Special Envoys for Afghanistan, the participants stressed on the formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan and reversal of ban on women and girls.
The meeting, held on May 25-26 in Ashgabat, in a joint statement said that they discussed the economic situation in Afghanistan and how to continue cooperation in assisting the people of Afghanistan.
Special Representatives and Special Envoys for Afghanistan of the European Union, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and the EU Special Representative for Central Asia were the participants.
The joint statement also focused on urging the Taliban to lift all bans on Afghan girls and women restricting their rights to education, work and participation in public life. It said that the bans – beyond being serious human rights violations – are having detrimental effects on the ability of the international community to deliver humanitarian aid to the Afghan people, and need to be lifted for the Afghan economy to prosper, and ultimately for Afghanistan to achieve long-term stability and peace.
The statement said that terrorism, violent extremism, drug trafficking and other illicit cross border activities, will negatively impact the region. The participants called on the Taliban to prevent the Afghan territory from being used as a safe haven for hosting, planning, training, financing or exporting terrorism and violent extremism to other countries.
The participants also reaffirmed their strong commitment to the people of Afghanistan and underlined the importance of the establishment of an inclusive and representative government and of upholding civil, political, social economic and cultural rights of all Afghans.
The statement also expressed grave concerns regarding the increasing erosion of human rights and fundamental freedoms and the dire economic and humanitarian situation.
Mustafa Mahami, Iran's leader’s representative in Sistan and Baluchistan, said that Tehran must use all means to address water rights issue. Mahami referred to the Taliban as a "puppet government of the United States" and urged for change in Iran's behaviour toward the group.
Mahami, who represents Ali Khamenei, Iran's leader, in his Friday prayer sermon in Zahedan city, called the warning of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi to the Taliban as "satisfying for the people of Sistan and Baluchistan" and asked for follow ups of the water rights issue.
According to the Iran Student News Agency (ISNA), Mahami connected the water rights issue to the US and said, "When the Kamal Khan dam project started, we reported to the capital of the country, but no one took any action." According to him, it was US’ agenda to prevent the flow of water from Kajaki dam to Iran.
Over the past weeks, Iran's water rights claim from Helmand River has escalated tension between the Islamic Republic and the Taliban.Earlier, Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi warned the Taliban officials to allocate the share of water for Sistan and Baluchistan from the Helmand River. He said that the Taliban should take his warning seriously and "not complain later that we weren't told”.
The Taliban reacted to Raisi’s statement and said that there is not enough water in the Helmand River.
However, the Islamic Republic does not accept the Taliban’s claim of lack of water in the Helmand River and said that the Taliban should allow Iranian experts to visit the dams and confirm the Taliban’s claims.
Khalid Hanafi, Taliban’s minister of promotion of virtue said that Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada leader of the group has agreed to hire Shia scholars as the ministry’s ombudsman. Hanafi said that in these Shia ombudsmen have been hired in Daikundi, Ghazni, and Bamiyan provinces.
“In some areas of Kabul, there are many Shias and hence, ombudsmen (Muhtasibs) have been hired from among Shia scholars,” he added.
According to him, Hibatullah Akhundzada was in favour of this decision.
This Taliban official had given a speech during a meeting with several Taliban cabinet members and supporters of the group in Kabul on Thursday.
Khalid Hanafi said that the Taliban’s Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice deals with religious administration and all sects, including followers of the Shia sect of Islam, come under it.
This Taliban ministry in March had announced that they would be hiring new Muhtasibs.
Taliban ombudsmen have been accused of violating people's privacy in many cases. House searches without warrant and inspection of people’s phone are some examples of the violations.
While the Taliban’s Minister of Promotion of Virtues and Prevention of Vice has commented on hiring Shia scholars as Muhtasibs, it has been said that the group is against teaching Jafari jurisprudence in some of the educational centers.
On June 2022, sources told Afghanistan International that by the order of the Taliban leader Jafari jurisprudence had been replaced by Hanafi jurisprudence in Bamiyan University, a province which has mostly Shias.
Rasul Mousavi, Iran’s assistant foreign minister, assured Afghan refugees in Iran that they are Tehran’s guests and would be respected. Mousavi indirectly referred to the Taliban as the source of the problems.
Iran’s assistant foreign minister responded to the concerns of Afghan refugees regarding the tensions between Tehran and the Taliban over water rights issues and its possible impacts on Afghans residing in Iran.
Mohammad Kazem Kazemi, an Afghan writer, and poet living in Iran, referred to the possible pressure of the Iranian government on Afghan refugees.
Referring to the statements of some Iranian officials who called for putting pressure on Afghan immigrants, Kazemi wrote in a note on his Instagram account, "The truth is that these refugees are actually more on Iran's side, both in terms of being in Iran and socialising and living together in the Iranian society and in the sense that they were mainly opponents or even rejected by the Taliban.”
Kazemi claimed that Afghan refugees living in Iran can be a support to Tehran inside Afghanistan.
Earlier, a member of the Iranian parliament had demanded the expulsion of Afghan refugees from the country in order to put pressure on the Taliban regarding the water rights from Helmand water.
In the past weeks, the tension between the Taliban and the Islamic Republic have intensified over water rights from the Helmand River. The tensions have escalated by the intervention of Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, who warned the Taliban to resolve the water rights issue from Helmand River.
The Taliban said it is committed to providing Iran's rights according to the 1973 treaty, however, the drought in recent years has reduced the water in the Helmand River.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, however, insisted that an Iranian technical expert team should examine the Taliban’s claim of lack of water in Afghanistan dams.
Semyon Grigoryev, Russia’s ambassador in Dushanbe, on Thursday, said that China, Russia, and Tajikistan are committed to establishing peace in Afghanistan. He was speaking at the Tajikistan, Russia, and Chia Friendship meeting in Dushanbe.
Grigoryev emphasised that the goal of the three countries is to “achieve intra-Afghan reconciliation through the formation of an inclusive ethnopolitical government”.
According to the Russian ambassador in Tajikistan, peace in Afghanistan can be achieved through the formation of an inclusive government.
According to the Tass News Agency, Grigoryev added that the situation in Afghanistan is the focus of Moscow, Beijing, and Dushanbe and that these three countries will use all available formats to solve Afghanistan's problems.
Earlier, the international community had declared that formation of an inclusive government is one of the conditions for recognition of the Taliban. Nevertheless, Taliban repeatedly said that their government is inclusive and represents all Afghans.
Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, acting prime minister of Taliban on Thursday, during a meeting with some of the group’s cabinet members in Kabul said that all ethnicities are present in their government.
Justifying his claim, he said that an ethnic Uzbek, Abdul Salam Hanafi; a Tajik, Qari Fasihuddin Fitrat and, from Panjshir Nooruddin Azizi are part of the Taliban government.
However, Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister on April 14 in a press conference said that non-Pashtun members of the Taliban government are all Taliban members.