Tehran, May 20 (IANS) Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has urged Taliban to allow the visit of Iranian technical teams to Afghanistan’s Kajakai Dam to measure its water level and verify drought claims.
Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks on Friday in a post on his Twitter page, reacting to Taliban’s claims that the low water level of the Hirmand river is the reason for their failure to honour Iran’s water rights under a 1973 treaty.
The Hirmand Treaty between Iran and Afghanistan entitled the former to receive 20 million cubic metre of water from the river per year, Xinhua news agency reported.
On Thursday, the Taliban government issued a statement, saying Iran’s frequent requests for water and “inappropriate” comments on media are “harmful,” adding it is committed to the 1973 treaty.
This comes as the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) spokesman said Thursday that satellite photos show that the Taliban have made alterations to the river’s route, preventing its water from reaching Iran.
The Hirmand river originates in the Hindu Kush Mountains near Afghanistan’s capital Kabul and runs 1,126 kilometre south before flowing into Hamoun wetlands, located in Iran’s southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan provinces, which Amir-Abdollahian said are suffering from drought.
–IANS
int/khz/
