By JON GAMBRELL (Associated Press)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Taliban and Iran exchanged heavy gunfire Saturday on the Islamic Republic’s border with Afghanistan, killing and wounding troops whereas sharply escalating rising tensions between the 2 nations amid a dispute over water rights.
Iran’s state-run IRNA information company quoted the nation’s deputy police chief, Gen. Qassem Rezaei, accusing the Taliban of opening fireplace first Saturday morning on the border of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province and the Afghan province of Nimroz. IRNA stated Iran inflicted “heavy casualties and serious damage.”
From the Taliban’s view, Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor accused Iran of taking pictures first. Takor stated the firefight killed two folks, one from every nation, and wounded others. He described the state of affairs as now being below management.
IRNA, quoting Iranian police, stated two border guards had been killed. However, that quantity could also be greater. The semiofficial, English-language newspaper Tehran Times stated the preventing killed three Iranian border guards. IRNA stated the Milak border crossing with Afghanistan, a significant commerce route, was closed till additional discover over the gunfight.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers dialogue to be a reasonable way for any problem,” Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khawarazmi stated in a press release. “Making excuses for war and negative actions is not in the interest of any of the parties.”
The advocacy group HalVash, which studies on points affecting the Baluch folks within the predominately Sunni province of Sistan and Baluchestan, quoted residents within the space saying the preventing passed off close to the Kang district of Nimroz. It stated some folks within the space had fled the violence.
Videos posted on-line, purportedly from the realm, included the crackle of machine gun fireplace within the distance. HalVash later posted a picture of what seemed to be the stays of a mortar spherical, saying that “heavy weapons and mortars are being used.”
Later movies from HalVash purported to indicate Iranian forces firing a mortar, in addition to Taliban troops firing American-made machine weapons at an Iranian border put up. Other Taliban fighters drove armored automobiles probably left behind by NATO forces.
Iran vowed not let the Taliban assault stand.
“The border forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will decisively respond to any border trespassing and aggression, and the current authorities of Afghanistan must be held accountable for their unmeasured and contrary actions to international principles,” IRNA quoted Iran’s police chief, Gen. Ahmadreza Radan, as saying.
The conflict comes as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi earlier this month warned the Taliban to not violate Iran’s water rights to the Helmand River. Raisi’s remarks represented among the strongest but over the long-running issues about water in Iran.
Drought has been an issue in Iran for some 30 years, however has worsened over the previous decade, in response to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization. The Iran Meteorological Organization says that an estimated 97% of the nation now faces some stage of drought.
The Taliban seized Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops have been within the last weeks of their pullout from the nation after 20 years of warfare. In the time since, Afghanistan has turn out to be probably the most repressive on the earth for girls and women, depriving them of nearly all their primary rights, in response to the U.N. Hunger stays endemic.
While in a roundabout way accepting the Taliban authorities, Iran has maintained relations with Afghanistan’s new rulers. Tehran additionally has referred to as on the Taliban to permit ladies and women to go to high school.
Earlier on Saturday, the Taliban’s Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met with an Iranian envoy to Afghanistan to debate the Helmand River water rights, in response to tweets from Afghan Foreign Ministry official Zia Ahmad. IRNA acknowledged the assembly, saying “that issues between the two countries will be better resolved through dialogue.”
But tensions have in any other case been rising. Another video posted on-line in current days purportedly confirmed a standoff with Iranian forces and the Taliban as Iranian development staff tried to strengthen the border between the 2 nations.
In current days, pro-Taliban accounts on-line even have been sharing a video with a music calling on the performing protection minister, Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, to face as much as Iran. Mullah Yaqoob is the son of Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban’s late founder and first supreme chief.
“We are a government, we have power,” the music goes. “Our leader Mullah Yaqoob will stand against Iran or we are not the republic’s government. We are not slaves, our leader Mullah Yaqoob will stand against Iran.”
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Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez in Islamabad and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”