Object of desire, negotiation, currency of exchange… Afghan blue gold has become an increasingly important issue as the planet warms. The Helmand River, whose turquoise waters rise in the center of the country before flowing almost 1,000 kilometers further into Iran, is increasingly coveted by Tehran. The Taliban understood this well and turned it into a diplomatic tool.
The distribution of this water, which is relied on to irrigate large areas of agricultural land in southeastern Iran’s Sistan-Balochistan province, has been a source of tension for decades. To settle their dispute, Tehran and Kabul signed a treaty in 1973 that gave the Iranians the right to use 22 cubic meters per second, plus a possible additional four cubic meters.
But Iran has recently accused Afghanistan of not honoring this agreement, and in particular accused the kayaki dam, one of Afghanistan’s most important hydroelectric power plants, of restricting its water supply.
The Iran-Afghanistan Water Crisis (June 2023). © FMM Graphic Studio
A warning from Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi set the powder on fire. The latter on May 18 urged Afghanistan to let Helmand water flow for his country and urged Kabul to “seriously consider” his warning “not to complain afterwards.”
On May 27, Iranian forces exchanged fire with the Taliban stationed on either side of the border, killing two people, according to Taliban authorities.
“These clashes stem from tensions surrounding the redistribution of water,” confirms Jonathan Piron, a historian specializing in Iran at the Etopia research center in Brussels. “The Helmand is a river of great importance to Iran as it enables the development of the agricultural areas of Sistan-Balochistan. And this becomes all the more important as we find ourselves in a situation where accelerating drought impacts and reduced rainfall are wiping out agricultural regions at risk.”
A dry lake and dust storms
As an arid country, Iran is experiencing increasing episodes of drought, particularly in Sistan-Balochistan, where Helmand-fed Lake Hamoun has dried up, while previously it was the heart of the world’s seventh wetland.
Around the lake, fauna and flora, agriculture and animal husbandry, and villages have disappeared, giving way to a desolate landscape.
Other phenomena exacerbate the effects of the Helmand drought: Dust storms from the south tend to increase, hitting this region particularly. “When these dust storms hit dry, barren soil, they scrape the land even more, kicking up more dust, sand and salt and degrading good agricultural land further away,” explains Jonathan Piron, who has been doing water research in Iran for several years.
The new Afghan dams
Water is also a precious commodity on the Afghan side, because it irrigates agricultural fields in a crisis-ridden country where the question of food is of crucial importance. “The Taliban want to regain control of Helmand and redistribute water for their own people in order to assert their legitimacy as a government,” analyzes Jonathan Piron.
During the decades of wars that plagued the country, hydraulic structures were not maintained, which “benefited the Iranians” as the water flowed at the expense of Afghanistan. The previous Afghan government also accused Tehran of encouraging instability around Afghan dam sites by supporting armed groups so that water could continue to flow towards the border.
The Helmand River in Helmand province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, November 15, 2012. © AP
But in recent years Afghanistan has decided to regain control of its hydraulic potential by accelerating the construction of hydroelectric power plants and irrigation systems. The Kamal Khan Dam was finally inaugurated in March 2021 on Helmand on the border with Iran after six decades of endless work.
The famous kayaki dam, which is the subject of discord with Tehran, has also recently been the subject of extensive works that have been completed. Built in the 1950s, the structure was abandoned in 1979 during the Soviet invasion. Only after the fall of the Taliban in 2001 did the Americans put it back into operation after extensive work and finally downsized it. Then, in 2013, the Afghan state took over the management of new projects after asking a Turkish company for help.
The final work was completed in August 2022, increasing production from 33 to 51.5 megawatts, with a target of 100 megawatts in the future. According to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, the Taliban are considering another project to increase the dam’s water storage capacity, which will increase the total height of the water reservoir by 12 meters.
The Kayaki Dam, July 28, 2011, during the American construction phase. ©AP
“Neither side has an interest in prolonging tensions“
A recovery that has particularly angered Tehran for several months. Iran therefore warned on May 19 that it reserves the right to take measures to extract water from Helmand. “In practice, the Afghan leadership has not honored the commitments made in the treaty [de 1973] and have not offered the necessary cooperation to grant Iran its legal water rights,” Iran’s foreign ministry said, adding that the situation had become “unacceptable.”
He also described a statement by the ruling Taliban as “contradictory and untrue” that lack of rainfall and a severe drought were responsible for stopping the flow of water to Iran because the level of the river had dropped.
Iran, which shares a more than 900 km border with Afghanistan, does not recognize the government formed by the Taliban, but the neighboring country has so far maintained friendly relations with the new masters of Kabul.
“None of the parties has an interest in prolonging the tensions,” said Jonathan Piron. Iran needs a stable Afghanistan and the Taliban prefer to live with a non-threatening and economically cooperative neighbor.
After the exchange of fire at the border at the end of May, Tehran and Kabul immediately tried to calm the situation. “The situation is currently under control,” Taliban Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafy Takor said on his Twitter account on the day of the incident, adding that his government “does not want a war with its neighbor.”
water as currency
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have instead sought to ingratiate themselves with Tehran, a key trading partner. And in this diplomatic game, they use water as a key element of the negotiations.
In January 2022, for example, they had decided to open the spigot from Afghanistan to Iran by discharging water from the Kamal Khan Dam into Lake Hamoun, a few days after their foreign minister’s visit to Tehran. A gesture that was then welcomed by Iran.
Some observers go even further, even claiming that the Taliban are trading water for barrels of oil, gas or electricity. Information confirmed by Le Figaro showing that after the exchange of fire in late May, the Taliban “according to press information have proposed the following exchange: 10 liters of water in Iran for 20 liters of Iranian diesel for the Afghan market”.