Answer to a Question
Question:
Tensions have escalated once again between Afghanistan and Iran due to a long-standing dispute over the distribution of water from the Helmand Dam, which is a primary water source for both countries. Deutsche Welle (DW) reported on its website on 3/6/2023: "Heavy exchange of fire took place between Iran and the Taliban last week near the shared border, resulting in the death and injury of several soldiers in a new wave of escalating tension between the two sides, amidst mutual accusations of responsibility for starting the fire. The shooting came amid increasing disagreements between Kabul and Tehran regarding the Helmand River, or 'Hirmand' as it is called in Afghanistan, which is a major source of water for both countries..." Al Jazeera had reported on its website on 1/6/2023, quoting the Russian newspaper Izvestia: "Relations between Iran and the Taliban government have witnessed various tensions due to Tehran's support during the civil war in Afghanistan for the Northern Alliance opposing the Taliban movement, as well as religious and political differences between the two countries, not to mention the conflict over the water resources of the Helmand River, which flows into Lake Hamun in Iranian territory. According to agreements concluded in 1973, Afghanistan must provide Iran annually with 850 million cubic meters of water from this river, an issue that became complicated after the Taliban came to power..." So, what are the causes of these problems and the occurrence of clashes between the two sides? Where are things heading? Are there major powers fueling this dispute or benefiting from it and employing it to achieve their colonial projects?
Answer:
To understand these causes and where things are heading, we review the following points:
Fars News Agency reported on 27/5/2023 that "armed clashes broke out between the Iranian border guards and the Taliban government forces on the border strip between the two countries near the Sasoli post." It quoted an informed source saying that "tension occurred between the Iranian border guard forces and Taliban militants and developed into an exchange of fire." In the first official statement, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Internal Security Forces in Iran, Qasem Rezaei, said: "Tehran will not allow any unfortunate incident to occur on the border with Afghanistan. Several mistakes occurred by the Taliban movement on the shared border between Iran and Afghanistan... We say to neighboring countries that our borders are borders of friendship and we must not allow an unfortunate incident to occur. Taliban forces opened fire this morning towards the Iranian side, and the border guards responded, and the clashes stopped for a while but broke out again later and are still ongoing." He noted that the Commander-in-Chief of the Internal Security Forces, Ahmad Reza Radan, "ordered the border guards to respond firmly to any border violation or aggression." The official Iranian news agency, IRNA, reported that "the clash that took place today, 27/5/2023, between the border guard forces and Taliban elements led to the death of two members of the Taliban movement's forces, as well as the death of two Iranian forces and the injury of other citizens."
The spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry of Interior, Abdul Nafi Takor, stated on his Twitter account: "Two people were killed in today's clashes in the border province of Nimruz, one from Iran and the other from Afghanistan, and others were injured, and the Islamic Emirate does not support clashes with its neighbors" (Local TOLOnews channel, 27/5/2023). The Afghan police confirmed on 29/5/2023 that the "Silk Bridge" border crossing between Afghanistan and Iran was reopened after being closed on 28/5/2023 due to armed clashes that lasted for several hours between the two parties. All of this indicates that the security situation on the border between the two countries is fragile and could ignite again at any moment. When we consider that in the two years since the Taliban came to power, more than 10 clashes have broken out between the two sides, it confirms a state of near-permanent tension.
Disagreements intensified in recent days between Afghanistan and Iran over the sharing of water quotas from the Helmand River, or Hirmand as it is called in Iran. The disputes between the two countries on this subject are old; an agreement was signed between the two countries in 1973, according to which Afghanistan was to grant Iran 820 million cubic meters annually from the river, but Iran says it has received only two million cubic meters. It appears that one of the most significant problems between the two countries is the water issue. The problem began a century and a half ago during the British division of the land. The Iranian Assistant Foreign Minister, Sayed Mousavi, said via his Twitter account on 28/5/2023: "We must be vigilant; what happened today on the (Zabul-Nimruz) border is a continuation of the plot of the colonizers... If Goldsmith brought Sistanabad to its current state in 1872 with his conspiracy, his heirs today want to destroy Iran and Afghanistan... The people and elites of both countries must realize that any kind of conflict is a strategic loss for both."
The story began when the two countries agreed to resort to a British arbitration committee led by General Goldsmith, which began demarcating the borders between the two countries in 1871 and completed it within a year. The shared border between the two countries is long, starting from the Zulfiqar Pass, the border triangle between Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan in the north, and extending to Malek Siah Mountain, the border triangle between Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in the south, a distance of 945 km. At that time, the dispute over the sharing of Helmand water emerged after the British divided the Sistan and Baluchestan region during the border demarcation to create a chronic focal point of conflict between the Islamic lands of Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan, as they did in all Islamic and non-Islamic lands they occupied, colonized, and subsequently divided. This was done to ignite rebellion in the divided region where there is a movement for the independence of this region from those three countries, so that there would be an opening for them—the British—to intervene in these countries while they dispute their borders and their people kill one another. Consequently, the British maintain their influence in those countries and work to weaken them so they do not escape their grip or so they can restore their influence if they lose it.
The dispute between the two countries over the borders continued, especially after the diversion of the Helmand River's course in 1896. The river is estimated to be about 1,150 km long and crosses several Afghan provinces, as well as the Sistan and Baluchestan province which the British divided between Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan! It flows into Lake Hamun, shared with Iran. The borders were redemarcated by the British Colonel Henry McMahon, who divided the river water between the two parties in 1905, stipulating that Afghanistan should not build dams that would damage the water supply to Iran, and ruling that the latter should take one-third of the river's water. However, the Afghan side during the era of the Emir of Afghanistan, Habibullah Khan, did not accept this and considered it biased in favor of Iran. The disputes continued, and several arbitration committees were appointed and agreements signed, only to be broken over decades. The dispute between the two parties worsened in 1934. The two parties decided not to resort to Article 10 of the 1921 treaty concluded between them, which stipulates "British arbitration in border disputes." The two parties resorted to a Turkish arbitration committee, but it failed. Subsequently, negotiations began between the two sides in 1936 and 1939. When the Iranians demanded half of the water flowing into the "Kamal Khan" dam, the Afghans refused, and the talks failed. Similarly, the 1951 and 1958 talks failed until 1973, when an agreement was signed granting the Iranians less than 10% of the water. However, the Afghan Parliament did not ratify it. Then the communists carried out a coup in Afghanistan in 1978 and rejected the entire agreement. Following that was the Soviet aggression led by Russia against Afghanistan in 1979 and their occupation of the country, so the situation remained as it was between the two countries.
This continued after the defeat of the Russians and their allies and their humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan, the formation of a government of Mujahideen, until the first Taliban came to power between 1996 and 2001. Then came the American aggression and their occupation of Afghanistan. During this period, especially when Ashraf Ghani came to power in 2014, he determined to build dams in the west and east of the country on all ten rivers that originate in Afghanistan and flow into neighboring countries without Afghanistan benefiting from them; he built about 49 dams. The construction of the Kamal Khan Dam in Nimruz province near the Iranian border was completed, which took 4 years to build and was inaugurated in March 2021, significantly affecting Iran's share of water. Ashraf Ghani indicated that he did not intend to pass water except in exchange for oil. With the Taliban movement coming to power for the second time on 15/8/2021, Iran asked the new government to return to the 1973 agreement. It is noted that Iran itself shares water issues with neighboring countries, which leads to problems as long as colonial divisions persist.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warned the rulers of Afghanistan during his visit to the city of Chabahar in Sistan and Baluchestan province on 18/5/2023, saying: "The right to water from the Hirmand (Helmand) River is a right for the people of the Sistan and Baluchestan region, which is stipulated in treaties and agreements." He said, threatening the rulers of Afghanistan: "The rulers of Afghanistan should not consider this matter normal and must take this issue seriously. We warn them of the necessity of giving the rights of the people in Pakistani Sistan and in Iranian Sistan and Baluchestan from the waters of the Hirmand River as soon as possible." He added, "The government is making every effort to bring water from the Sea of Oman to the eastern regions of Iran, but this project takes time..." (Al-Alam Iranian page, 18/5/2023). IRNA quoted the Iranian ambassador to Afghanistan, Hassan Kazemi, as saying: "If it is proven that there is water in the Kajaki Dam and the Taliban refrains from giving Iran its share of the Hirmand water, then it must bear the responsibility, and then the argument will have been established and the Iranian government knows how to act..." (Al-Arabiya, 25/5/2023). It appears from the statements of the Iranian diplomat working in Afghanistan that there are threats of the situation exploding between the two countries. Iran did not do this in the past in the presence of the Americans and the Afghan governments subordinate to them; its relationship with those governments was good despite the existence of this problem for decades. The statements of the Iranian President and other Iranian officials, both warning and threatening, confirm that the situation between the two countries is not going well. Tension remains the dominant feature until Iran solves the water problem on its side for its region in Sistan and Baluchestan, as the Iranian President pointed out, by bringing water from the Sea of Oman, then desalinating it, and then distributing it to agricultural lands. It appears that Iranian officials want to employ the matter for their benefit and make the cause of the problem the government of Afghanistan, which prevents the flow of water, knowing that this problem is over a century and a half old. There is dissatisfaction among the people of this region towards the Iranian regime, as they suffer from neglect and marginalization, and the region is witnessing protest movements against the regime, including a movement calling for secession.
The spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid, wrote on his Twitter account on 27/5/2023: "Kabul is committed to fulfilling its obligations, but the water level has decreased as a result of severe drought." He said: "The inappropriate statements issued by the Iranian side in this regard can damage the relations between the two countries and therefore should not be repeated." This is a decent, non-threatening response, but it rejects the threat and warns against it, whether regarding the statements of Raisi or other officials who issued threatening statements to Afghanistan, belittling it. It appears that Afghanistan does not want to tense relations with Iran.
There are border rivers in Afghanistan with Iran such as the Helmand, Farah, and Harirod rivers, and there are smaller rivers such as the Harut, Khasbush, Khash, and Budai, all of which originate in Afghanistan and flow into Lake Bozak and Lake Sabari located on the shared border between the two countries. The Helmand River is the main source of water supply for the Sistan plain and is considered the lifeblood of Sistan and Baluchestan province, which suffers from chronic drought. It appears that Afghan rivers, especially the Helmand River, play a major geopolitical role in the relations between the two countries, and Afghanistan can use the water issue as a powerful pressure tool on Iran and others to achieve its economic and political goals, especially since about 95% of this water flows within Afghanistan itself.
All the above shows that the root of the problem is what the British created by "tearing apart" the lands of the Muslims; they made Sistan and Baluchestan into three parts! One part for Iran, one for Pakistan, and a third for Afghanistan. Therefore, the river's course and its mouth became disputed by three entities that disagree and fight over it. If these three countries were one entity, one state as Allah commanded, the matter would have been sound and upright. Therefore, the solution to this problem, which has reached the level of fighting between Iran and Afghanistan, can only be by abolishing the Iranian and Afghan entities and other existing entities in the Islamic world and merging them into one state based on Islam, which eliminates ethnic and sectarian differences and the borders drawn by the British. The root of the problem is known: the colonial division of Islamic lands. Everyone has been scorched by the fire of colonialism and its remnants, as expressed by some Iranian officials as we explained above. The solution to the problem is known: the unity of these lands as they were before colonialism, making them one state truly based on Islam, with all its foundations, branches, and aspects. Then the water will flow in its channels, the people will drink, the livestock will be quenched, and the earth will produce its blessings by Allah's will. The oil wealth will also be distributed to everyone, so everyone will enjoy what Allah has bestowed upon them of blessings and will be happy under the laws of Islam...
Any other solutions are partial and temporary; they are time bombs that can explode at any moment. We call on everyone to work seriously and diligently to establish the Rightly Guided Khilafah on the method of the Prophethood, which unites the lands of the Muslims. Then the Muslims will be honored by the honor of Islam and will be brothers as servants of Allah.
This is the solution to which Islam calls us; where there is honor and a good, dignified life:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَجِيبُوا للهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللهَ يَحُولُ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِ وَأَنَّهُ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ
"O you who have believed, respond to Allah and to the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life. And know that Allah intervenes between a man and his heart and that to Him you will be gathered." (Surah Al-Anfal 8:24)
17th of Dhu al-Qi'dah 1444 AH 6/6/2023 CE