Escalating tension between Iran and the Taliban… What is the truth behind Afghan tanks heading towards the border?
As Iran and the Taliban engage in recent “verbal confrontations,” a convoy of Taliban tanks is reportedly moving from the city of Herat to Islam Qala on the Afghan-Iranian border.
According to reports cited by the “Iran International” agency, Taliban forces have been stationed in the area with “heavy military equipment.” Images and videos received by “Afghanistan International” show a convoy of Taliban tanks moving from Herat towards the Iranian border, and Taliban members stationed in Herat advancing towards Islam Qala with advanced military equipment.
According to local sources, recent tensions between Iran and the Taliban began after the Taliban blocked the construction of a road on the border and the installation of barbed wire by Iranian border guards.
The sources said that the border guards of the Taliban and the Iranian border guards engaged in a verbal battle last Friday at the borders of Islam Qala.
Following the publication of the report on the deployment of Taliban forces in Islam Qala, Iranian media wrote Tuesday evening that the situation on the borders of Islam Qala is calm. The Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, denied any tension between the Taliban and the Iranian Border Guards in this border region.
The Taliban authorities have not officially commented on sending troops to the border (of Islam Qala).
This tension on the Islam Qala border comes at a time when the Taliban have recently clashed with Iranian border guards in Nimroz.
Last Saturday, Taliban forces and Iranian border guards clashed in the Nimroz border area. Iran claimed that the shots were fired from inside Afghanistan. The Iranian deputy police chief confirmed that during this clash, one Iranian border guard was killed, and two others were injured.
A day after the clash on the Iran-Afghanistan border, conflicting reports emerged of the Taliban seizing an Iranian outpost during the clash.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, neighboring countries, including Iran, have fought numerous border disputes with the group’s forces.
Recent border tensions between Iran and Afghanistan have been accompanied by increasingly vocal disagreements over Iran’s claim to its share of the Helmand River.
According to Iran’s IRNA news agency, “Tensions between the two neighbors have escalated in recent months; Due to the failure of the Taliban government to respect the 1973 water sharing treaty, the Iranian authorities said the Taliban were restricting the flow of water from the Helmand River to Iran’s arid eastern regions.”
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi renewed Iran’s call for Afghanistan to extend its rights from the Helmand River to areas in the southeast of the country experiencing unprecedented droughts during his visit to the border province of Sistan-Baluchistan.
The river originated in central Afghanistan in the province of the same name and ran more than 1,000 kilometers until reaching Lake Hamoun on the border between the two countries. Its water was used to irrigate agricultural areas in Sistan-Baluchestan province.
