Border fight between Iran and Taliban kills one: Afghan official

Tehran, Iran – A border fight between the forces of Iran and Afghanistan’s Taliban has left one dead, according to a local Afghan official.

Mawlawi Mohammad Ebrahim Hewad, the Islamic Emirate’s border commander in the province of Nimroz, was quoted by Afghanistan’s TOLOnews as saying that one Taliban soldier has died and another has been wounded on Sunday.

He claimed Iranian forces began the fighting that he said took place in the Kong district in Nimroz.

The Reuters news agency also quoted a police official in Nimroz as saying a member if the Taliban forces had died.

Iran’s state-run IRNA did not comment on the reported casualty, but said the fight was started by Taliban forces.

According to IRNA and the semiofficial Tasnim news outlet, fighting began when Taliban forces entered Iranian soil in Hirmand, located in the province of Sistan and Balochistan, and tried to raise their own flag.

They said Taliban forces have once more mistaken a wall that has been constructed to constrain smugglers, and does not actually represent the border between the two countries.

“With a wrong understanding of the borderline, Taliban forces imagine the wall is the border between Iran and Afghanistan while it isn’t,” Tasnim said. “Iranian border officials have tried to make them understand this for the past few months.”

A short video circulating on Iranian social media on Sunday purportedly showed Iranian forces firing shells from the back of a truck in the border area.

Several similar incidents have taken place since the Taliban’s armed takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021.

The first such publicised incident, which didn’t result in any casualties, came in December and was called a “misunderstanding” by both countries’ authorities.

Iran has yet to officially recognise the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan, maintaining that its recognition would hinge on forming an “inclusive” administration.

The two have also been at odds over Iran’s water rights from the Helmand river, which the Taliban has yet to grant despite recognising the right.