Ahmad Vahidi, Iran’s minister of interior, on Sunday, called the border skirmish with the Taliban in Nimroz as a “brief clash” which had ended quickly. Following the concerns of increasing border tensions, Iranian and Taliban officials have taken on a more conciliatory tone.
On Saturday, two Iranian border guards had been killed in the clash between Taliban and Iran at the Abrisham border in Nimroz province. Taliban also confirmed that one of their members had been killed.
In his new statement, Iran’s Minister of Interior tried to downplay the clash with the Taliban. According to the Iranian media, Vahidi described the border clash with Taliban as “short”.
According to the Tasnim News Agency, Vahidi said, “An appropriate response has been given to the Afghanistan border guards. There was a short clash and has been resolved. Negotiations were also held with the Taliban side.”
Taliban also said that they didn’t want conflict with Iran and the border situation between the two countries is under control.
Taliban and Iran have provided different explanations about this conflict. Taliban’s spokesperson for Ministry of Interior said that this clash began when the Iranian border guards opened fire at the Taliban check post.
However, Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, on Sunday, wrote that Iranian border guards started shooting when a caravan of drug traffickers entered the country from Afghanistan soil.
Following the recent verbal tensions between the Iranian and Taliban officials over the water rights issue, there were concerns over the rising border clashes. Abolfazl Zohrevand, former ambassador of Iran to Afghanistan, called the military tension between Iran and the Taliban a "very serious war".
He told Entekhab website, “Everything cannot be said in the media, but in general, the Taliban are a destabilizing component in the region. There are worrying trends going on between Iran and Afghanistan.”
At the same time, Qasim Rezaei, successor of Iran’s Commander in Chief and Kioumars Heydari, Commander of the Iranian Army's Ground Forces visited border areas with Afghanistan in Sistan and Baluchistan province of Iran.
