KABUL: After Tehran criticized an upstream dam being built by its neighbor last week, the Afghan government cautioned Iran on Wednesday against making “irresponsible remarks.”
The two nations share a border of almost 900 kilometers, and water rights have long been a point of contention in their relations.
Esmaeil Baqaei, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, expressed “strong protest” on Friday about the Pashdan Dam on the Harirud River’s “disproportionate restriction of water entering Iran,” stating that the project would violate bilateral treaties.
Maulawi Abdul Kabir, the political deputy of the Afghan prime minister’s office, met with Alireza Bigdeli, the recently appointed Iranian ambassador to Kabul, on Wednesday.
Although the “water-sharing dispute between the two countries has been resolved through mutual understanding,” Kabir warned that careless remarks could jeopardize the two nations’ relationship.
According to a government post on social media platform X, the Afghan Taliban official also stated that there were “no issues in Afghanistan that could harm relations with Iran” and “expressed his desire to strengthen bilateral cooperation.”
Taliban officials in Afghanistan announced last month that water storage had started and that the Pashdan project, which is situated in the Herat region, was “nearing completion.”
In addition to producing two megawatts of power, the dam will irrigate 13,000 hectares of agricultural area and hold about 54 million cubic meters of water.
From the foothills of central Afghanistan to Turkmenistan, the Harirud River—also called the Hari and Tejen—flows, passing along Iran’s borders with both nations.
Iran warned Afghan officials in May 2023 that another dam project on the Helmand River would violate the water rights of people living in Sistan-Baluchistan, a province in southeast Iran that is experiencing drought.
