Afghanistan's ambassador in Tehran says his country has been providing Iran's fair share of water from the Hirmand (also known as Helmand) river and positive developments have taken place regarding other joint water resources. "There is no problem regarding water sharing from the Hirmand river…The two countries are committed to the terms of the Helmand River Water Treaty, and media reports that Afghanistan is not providing [Iran's] share are baseless," Nasir Ahmad Nour told ISNA in an interview published on Wednesday.
He said the main contributing factors to the current dilemma are climate change, steep decline in rainfall and rising water consumption.
The dams built on shared rivers, particularly the Hirmand river, is at the heart of a long-running diplomatic dispute between the two neighbors.
The Hirmand river—the longest watercourse in Afghanistan—rises in the Hindu Kush mountains west of Kabul and empties out into the Hamoun wetlands that straddle the border between the two countries, seeping into the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan and Afghanistan's Nimruz and Farah provinces.
Study of Wetlands
Ahmad Nour said members of a joint water committee have reached agreements concerning the joint water resources, including from the Hirmand river and the Hamoun wetlands.
"The committee has reached the conclusion that the drying up of the wetlands should be studied and joint efforts should be made to revive the wetlands," he said, adding that effective steps will also be taken regarding Hirmand.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif recently told parliament that the amount of water that Iran has received in the past several months is much less than what had been stipulated in the Afghan-Iranian Helmand River Water Treaty of 1973. The government in Kabul says building dams on the river is a top priority. It has also accused Iran of building dams on rivers which flow into Afghanistan, restricting the flow of water in the other direction.
Experts say neither government can avoid blame for what looks like an increasingly mismanaged resource.
Afghan Refugees
Asked about Afghan refugees, the ambassador said about 950,000 people from his country with refugee status live in Iran. It has often been reported in the local media and social experts that almost twice the number live and work illegally in Iran.
In addition, there are reportedly about 450,000 visa holders but the number is expected to decrease as some of them might have migrated to other countries, the envoy said.
