Taliban holds drills in Afghan province bordering Iran

The Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency, on June 8, reported that the third regiment of border forces in Nimroz conducted military training with heavy weapons.

Mohammad Nabi Mullahworor, a Taliban military official, said that the purpose of these exercises was to for more “military experience" of the Taliban forces, Afghanistan International reports.

Mullahworor stressed that these drills have been conducted by “professional” trainers in Zaranj City of Nimroz province.

These trainings are conducted by the Taliban as there was a border skirmish that took place between Iranian and Taliban border guards in Nimroz province and Iranian border guards used heavy weapons and artillery in attacking Taliban positions.

Nimroz, which is on the border with Iran, has witnessed several armed clashes between the Taliban and Iran.

Two Iranian border guards and one Taliban fighter have been killed after shooting broke out near a border post between Iran and Afghanistan, sharply escalating rising tensions between the two countries amid a dispute over water rights in late May.

“Today, in Nimroz province, Iranian border forces fired toward Afghanistan, which was met with a counter-reaction,” Afghan interior ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor said in a statement.

The clash came amid an escalating dispute between Kabul and Tehran over the Helmand River, which is a vital source of water for both sides, supporting agriculture, livelihoods and ecosystems in the region.

Afghanistan and Iran have been at loggerheads over the sharing of river water for over a century.

The Helmand is Afghanistan's longest river. It originates near Kabul in the western Hindu Kush mountain range and flows in a southwesterly direction through desert areas for a total of about 1,150 kilometres (715 miles) before emptying into Lake Hamun, which straddles the Afghanistan-Iran border.

Lake Hamun is the largest freshwater lake in Iran.

It used to be one of the world's largest wetlands, straddling 4,000 square kilometres (1,600 square miles) between Iran and Afghanistan, fed by the Helmand.

But it has since dried up, a trend experts blame on drought and the impact of dams and water controls.

The lake is of great importance for the regional environment and economy.

Afghanistan and Iran signed an agreement — the Helmand River Treaty — in 1973 to regulate the allocation of river water.

But the accord was neither ratified nor fully implemented, causing disagreements and tensions to persist.

Iran has accused Afghanistan of violating its water rights for years, arguing that far less water than the amount agreed to in the 1973 treaty flows into Iran.

Afghanistan has rejected Iran's accusations, underlining that climatic factors like a shortage of rainfall, resulting in reduced river water volumes, are to blame for the situation.

A major source of concern for Iran is Afghanistan's construction of dams, reservoirs and irrigation systems along the Helmand River. Tehran fears that these projects reduce water flow into Iran.

But Kabul argues that it is within its rights to expand water storage and irrigation capacities within Afghanistan.