Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran’s special representative for Afghanistan, stated that a meeting was held with Iranian representatives and the Ministry of Defense of the Taliban government, announcing the formation of a joint committee to prevent border clashes.
The meeting followed a border fight between the forces of Iran and Afghanistan’s Taliban on Sunday, July 31, that resulted in one death from the Afghan side.
Iran’s Special Representative for Afghanistan tweeted on Sunday that the Taliban government’s Ministry of Defense had discussed avoiding hostilities, and armed clashes and establishing a joint committee to prevent repeating similar actions during a discussion with the border forces.
At least one person was killed on the Afghanistan side of the border clashes on Sunday between Taliban fighters and Iranian border guards, according to a police official in Afghanistan.
The Iranian media cited Maysam Barazandeh, the governor of the Iranian border region of Hirmand, as stating that the fight had ceased and no one had been injured on the Iranian side.
One Taliban soldier was killed and another was wounded in the clash, according to Taliban border commander Mohammad Ebrahim Hewad, which took place in the Darwish area of the Kang district in Nimruz province, which borders Iran.
TOLOnews quoted Hewad saying that the clash was started by the Iranian border guards.
The Iranian media, however, claims that violence started when Taliban militants invaded Iranian territory in Hirmand, a town in the Iranian province of Sistan and Balochistan, and sought to raise their flag.
Since the Taliban’s armed occupation of Afghanistan in August 2021, other similar occurrences have occurred, on the Iranian, Pakistani and Tajik borders.
Iran and Afghanistan have also been in disagreement over Iran’s claim to water from the Helmand River; the Taliban has acknowledged this claim but has not yet granted it.
