Border clashes with the Taliban stem from a long-standing dispute over 500 meters of land

Iranian news agencies quoted the Minister of Interior of the Islamic Republic as saying: "The recent border clashes between Iranian border guards and Taliban forces were the result of a misunderstanding, but they have caused a change in the deployment of Iranian armed forces on the border with Afghanistan."

Ahmad Vahidi said in an interview with Tasnim News Agency: "The Taliban mistakenly thought that it should have control over some border areas, but we announced to Kabul that it must stop encroaching on Iranian territory."

Following these disputes at the Dogharun border in Khorasan Razavi Province, the Taliban blamed the entry of Iranian military vehicles into Afghan territory for the start of the tension, but the Islamic Republic announced that the reason for the tensions was the entry of Taliban road construction machinery into Iranian territory.

But Wahid Peyman, a journalist and former diplomat for the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in an exclusive interview with Voice of America: "The main cause of tensions between the Taliban and Iranian border guards is a 60-year-old dispute over a 500-meter road."

Vahid Peyman, stating that this road in the Dogharun-Islam Qala border area still remains as a highway, said: "Iran and Afghanistan have discussed many times in the past two decades to solve this problem and improve this piece of land. It was supposed that the two sides would divide this road equally, each separately, and asphalt it and end the differences, but with the Taliban coming to power in Afghanistan, this old problem remained unsolved."

He added: "The previous Afghan government had begun the operation to improve this road, but when the Taliban came to power, this operation was stopped, but the Taliban's ignorance of legal issues and past agreements with Iran and entering the area under Iranian control has caused these conflicts."

On May 23, some social media users first reported a "border clash" between Iranian forces and the Taliban by posting videos. Shortly afterwards, the "Fars" news agency, close to the Revolutionary Guards, confirmed the "closing of the Islam Qala border" and reported "border tension" between Iran and Afghanistan, but denied the occurrence of a "clash".

Shabir Ahmad, head of the Taliban leadership delegation in organizing border affairs with Iran, also met with Sayed Hassan Mortazavi, deputy head of the Islamic Republic's embassy in Kabul, on Tuesday and emphasized: "Our policy towards neighboring countries, especially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is to move towards comprehensive cooperation."

Iran and Afghanistan share about 900 kilometers of border.

Source: Voice of America