Troubled waters between Afghanistan and Iran as border troops clash over the Helmand River
By Mohd Faizee, Susanne Schmeier
On Saturday 27 May, Iranian and Afghan border guards exchanged gunfire, that, according to reports, killed and injured several people including civilians. The standoff occurred amid an escalation of tensions between the Taliban and Iran over Iran’s water rights from the Helmand river. Earlier on 18 May, during a visit to Sistan and Baluchistan province, the Iranian president warned the Taliban to comply with Iran’s water rights, saying that this was the last time Iran resorts to diplomatic means. The Iranian foreign minister added that Iran would exert pressure against the Taliban if needed. The Taliban responded by reiterating their commitment to the 1973 Helmand River Water Treaty and indicated that the basin is experiencing a dry year due to climate change impacts.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, Iran and Afghanistan have clashed on several occasions despite otherwise having relatively good relations. In 2022, residents of Iran’s Zabul city, attacked the trucks of Afghan traders near the border during a demonstration to demand more water from the Helmand River. This water scarcity was partly due to delayed precipitation in the upper part of the basin, but also due to the diversion of a large volume of water at Afghanistan’s Kamal Khan Dam towards its Goud e Zere wetlands.
The dispute was temporarily solved after the talks between the two foreign ministers and the Iranian Energy minister's visit to Afghanistan in August 2022. An increase in precipitation, including an unusually long monsoon in eastern and central Afghanistan during the second half of 2022, and improved political ties were among factors adding to the stability. The Taliban allowed water to flow from Kamal Khan towards Iran while publicly denying they did so, while Iran handed over the Afghan Embassy in Tehran to the Taliban's representatives.
However, these improved relations were not reflected at the technical level: water commissioners from both sides have failed to reach to any agreement during their three meetings held since Taliban took power in August 2021. In a May 2023 meeting in Kabul, the Iranian delegation requested to visit Kamal Khan and Kajaki dams to verify the Taliban’s claims of the decrease in river water. The Taliban rejected the request. The Iranian news agency, Irna, however, published what it said was satellite images from Kajaki Dam to show water behind Kajaki and Kamal Khan dams. Relations over water thus continue to be a central point of contention in the bilateral relations.
A historic perspective
The Helmand River, which is dependent on runoff from the mountains in central Afghanistan, has historically been prone to periodic floods and droughts. Climate change impacts have intensified the situation, often leading to conflicts and disagreements over the water, particularly during droughts. Nevertheless, Afghanistan and Iran have always disagreed over the volume of water Iran received under the 1973 Helmand River Water Treaty, which gives Iran the right to 820 billion cubic meters of water in normal years. As per the treaty, the volume will be proportionately decreased when the total flow of water in the river is less than normal thus below 5.6 billion cubic meters. The normal year is determined based on the flow measurement at Dehraud Station in Afghanistan’s Uruzgan province and water rights delivery have to take place at three mutually agreed points along the shared border while jointly monitored and measured.
However, no data is available from Dehraud Station, which was destroyed during the war in Afghanistan, and there are no mutually agreed delivery points. This has led both sides to base their arguments on contested water flow data they have unilaterally collected. While the instability in region has previously been the main hinderance for cooperation, it was also in Iran’s interest to keep the current status quo. The lack of water infrastructure in Afghanistan during decades of war and conflict has provided Iran with surplus water, which it has used. The inauguration of Afghanistan’s Kamal Khan Dam in March 2021, near the Iran border, changed this status quo.
The dam has the capacity to divert a large portion of the river flow, particularly during high floods, from Iran towards Afghanistan’s Goud e Zere wetlands, depriving Iran of water during peak flow. This capacity was used during the peak flow in 2022. However, due to the Taliban’s lack of management capacity, the water remaining in Afghanistan was not put to productive use. This illustrates how Kamal Khan Dam can be a source of contention, but also how it, if managed cooperatively and efficiently in a joint planning approach, can benefit both sides. This does, however, require technical capacity and joint planning – based on the willingness to cooperate –but in the current situation, this seems rather unlikely.