Taliban FM: Afghanistan committed to water treaty with Iran
The Taliban’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said on Monday that Afghanistan is committed to a water treaty signed between the two countries in 1973.
Muttaqi also asked the Iranian officials not to politicize the dispute that erupted between the two neighboring countries over Iran’s water rights from the Hirmand River, according to Tasnim News Agency.
He said that it’s better to settle the issue through face-to-face negotiations.
His comments came after Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi on Thursday issued a strong warning to Afghanistan’s rulers, asking them not to violate the water rights of the Iranian people from the Hirmand River.
Under a treaty signed between Iran and Afghanistan in 1973, Iran should receive an annual share of 820 million cubic meters from the river that rises in the Hindu Kush Mountains, west of the Afghan capital and flows in an arc southwest until it empties out into the Hamoun wetlands, located in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan Province.
Afghanistan has largely cut off the river’s flow into Iran, endangering the lives of many Iranians.