An Iranian newspaper has accused a senior Taliban official of making “contradictory and misleading” statements about the group’s commitment to providing Iran’s allocated water share from the Helmand River.
On Monday, 17 November, the daily Jomhouri-e Eslami reported that Nooruddin Azizi, the Taliban’s Minister of Industry and Commerce, traveled to Sistan-and-Baluchestan for trade discussions and to review the construction of a second route at the Milak border crossing.
According to the report, Azizi, when asked about Iran’s Helmand water rights, attributed reduced water flow to severe drought in Afghanistan and said the Taliban “has no intention of diverting the water.”
However, an analytical commentary in the newspaper said Azizi’s remarks contradict “documents related to the diversion of water toward the Godzareh basin.”
Citing the commentary, the report notes that satellite imagery shows that after the construction of the Kamal Khan Dam under the previous Afghan government, “a significant volume of floodwater was diverted toward the Godzareh basin,” preventing water from reaching Sistan.
The report adds that both the former Afghan government and the Taliban have resisted modifying the Kamal Khan Dam structures in ways that would redirect water toward Iran.
The newspaper emphasized that continuing to divert the water would violate Iran’s allocated share and contradict the Taliban’s claims of drought and water shortages.
