As hardline MPs strive to establish connections with the Taliban and portray the group in a favorable light, authorities in Kabul stand firm in countering any perceived interference from Tehran in their internal affairs. Amid the ongoing tensions, Iran seems resolute in its determination to maintain its relationship with the Taliban and bolster its presence through consular engagements and the construction of a hospital in Kandahar, a facility that carries the name of Qasem Soleimani.
A delegation of seven MPs, including members of the Paydari Front such as Mahmud Nabavian and Javad Karimi-Qoddusi, embarked on a visit to Afghanistan, where they engaged with various Taliban authorities and Afghan Shiites. However, upon their return, their attempt to justify the Taliban’s stance on Iran’s water rights and their efforts to distance the group from terrorism allegations raised significant concerns in Tehran. Notably, the negative response extended beyond reformist-leaning outlets and encompassed certain hardline platforms as well, reflecting continued resentment toward the Taliban’s attitudes toward Tehran. Nabavian, who had intriguingly decided to shed his clerical attire during his meeting with Taliban officials, asserted that the group, contrary to public misconceptions, has made substantial progress in cultural matters and remains steadfast in its battle against ISIS. He further contended that Afghanistan serves as a strategic avenue for circumventing sanctions and highlighted the Taliban’s intelligence collaboration with Iran, which he claimed thwarted a potential terrorist attack in Mashhad. Critics like Jomhuri-ye Eslami newspaper, a reliably anti-Taliban outlet, voiced their concerns about the underlying motives behind such political visits, asserting that they served as a means of normalizing the image of the Taliban. The central concern for this centrist-leaning newspaper revolved around Iranian officials returning from such visits and actively defending the group, effectively downplaying the harsh treatment of the Shiite population. A substantial portion of the criticism has also centered around the Iranian delegation’s flawed assessment of the dispute over water rights from the Helmand River. Despite being denied permission to visit the river and its nearby dams, the Iranian MPs have echoed the Taliban’s stance, attributing the diminished share of Iran’s water to the seasonal drought prevalent in the region. In another reaction, the reformist outlet Sharq argued that Afghanistan’s agricultural and hydro-political policies, coupled with an upsurge in poppy cultivation supported by water sourced from the Helmand River, lie at the core of the water tensions with Iran. Describing this as a facet of the Taliban’s strategy for social engineering and the promotion of the Pashtun population, the outlet highlighted satellite images from fall and winter indicating that approximately 40 percent of the Afghan mountains where the Helmand’s source lies were covered in snow. Furthermore, Sharq emphasized that the 1973 Helmand River Treaty had assigned a proportionately reduced share of the water for Iran, rather than a complete cessation.
Meanwhile, even as Iran’s top diplomat, Hosein Amir-Abdollahian, reaffirms Iran’s stance on the necessity of an inclusive government in Afghanistan, his Afghan counterpart has not shied away from questioning Iran’s own governance in terms of inclusiveness. In a mocking tone directed at Iran’s human rights record, the Taliban’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Amir Khan Muttaqi asserted that the Taliban holds fewer prisoners than the number of daily executions carried out in Iran. While social media channels affiliated with the IRGC displayed evident irritation at this pointed criticism, the Iranian ambassador to Kabul, in an attempt to temper Iran’s position, asserted that Iran refrains from intervening in the specific form of government in Afghanistan. He further clarified that any statements from Iran are driven by a sense of brotherhood and goodwill. Adding his perspective to the discourse, Hasan Kazemi-Qomi echoed Nabavian’s positive assessment of the Taliban. He noted that while the Shiite population in Afghanistan finds relative contentment in their living conditions, the absence of representation for them and other ethnic groups within the government remains a source of dissatisfaction.
