Tehran, Iran – A border battle between Iranian forces and the Afghan Taliban has left one dead, according to a local Afghan official. Mawlawi Mohammad Ebrahim Hewad, Islamic Emirate border commander in Nimroz province, according to Afghanistan’s TOLOnews, said one Taliban soldier was killed and another wounded on Sunday. He claimed that Iranian forces started the fighting which he said took place in Kong area in Nimroz. Reuters news agency also quoted a police official in Nimroz as saying that a member if Taliban forces had been killed. Iran’s state-run IRNA did not comment on the reported casualties, but said the fight was initiated by Taliban forces. According to IRNA and the semi-official Tasnim news agency, the fighting began when Taliban forces entered Iranian territory in Khirmad, located in Sistan and Baluchistan province, and tried to raise their own flag. They said Taliban forces had once again mistaken a wall built to keep out smugglers as not actually representing the border between the two countries. “With a wrong understanding of the border line, Taliban forces imagine that the wall is the border between Iran and Afghanistan, when it is not,” Tasnim said. “Iranian border officials have been trying to get them to understand this for the past few months.” A short video released on Iranian social media on Sunday reportedly shows Iranian forces firing shells from the back of a truck in the border area. Many similar incidents have taken place since the armed takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August 2021. The first publicized such incident, which had no victims, occurred in December and was described as a “misunderstanding” by the authorities of the two countries. Iran has yet to formally recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s government, arguing that its recognition will depend on the formation of a “comprehensive” administration. The two have also been at odds over Iran’s rights to water from the Helmand River, which the Taliban have yet to cede despite acknowledging it.
