Iran (IMNA) - Amir-Abdollahian and Amir Khan Mottaqi, the foreign minister of the Taliban-run government, spoke over the phone on Saturday. The Hirmand River was recently visited for the first time by a group of Iranian scientists.
According to the Iranian minister, these trips are being made in conformity with the 1973 water-sharing agreement and would help to increase transparency in the river conflict.
The Hindu Kush Mountains, west of Kabul, are the source of the Hirmand River, the longest river in Afghanistan. The Hirmand River travels in an arc southwest until it empties into the Hamoun International Wetlands, which are in Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan Province.
Iran and Afghanistan signed a contract in 1973 to develop a way of controlling each country's usage of the river after more than a century of conflict over Hirmand's water supply.
According to the agreement, Iran should get an annual share of 820 million cubic meters from Hirmand. However, Afghanistan has flagrantly broken both the text and the spirit of the agreement, risking the lives of numerous Iranians who depend on the Hamoun International Wetlands for drinking water, farming, and fishing.
The river in Afghanistan has also been dammed, which limits the flow of water into Iran.
Iranian politicians and government representatives have often protested that Iran does not get its fair share of water from the river.
Taliban ministers attribute Iran's recent water shortage to a drought and technological difficulties.
Mottaqi was also informed by Amir-Abdollahian that Iran has always wanted Afghanistan's prosperity and the welfare of its citizens, stressing that the Islamic Republic has welcomed a sizable number of Afghan refugees.
The Iranian foreign minister added that Tehran "emphasizes the [importance of] cooperation among all parties inside Afghanistan with the purpose of [promoting] stability, security, and welfare of the Afghan people."
The brotherly ties between Tehran and Kabul, according to Mottaqi, are built on good neighborliness. He stated that attempts are being made to resolve the current issues between the two parties and extended an invitation to the Iranian foreign minister to travel to Kabul.
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