BBC News
December 3, 2021
Both Iran and Afghanistan have confirmed that there was a clash in the border area between the two countries on Wednesday, but the situation is now under control and no casualties have been reported so far.
Iranian officials have described Wednesday's clashes as "minor" clashes between locals, but a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban said the incident was caused by a misunderstanding on the border and that steps had been taken to prevent it.
Videos of the border clash are also circulating on social media in which the Taliban can be seen fighting. According to the Iranian news agency Tasnim, the clashes also took place between Iranian troops and the Taliban.
Analysts say the clash in the border areas between Iran and Afghanistan cannot be described as a clash between the two countries as there is no tension in bilateral relations.
Where did the clash take place in the border area of Iran and Afghanistan?
Like Pakistan and Iran, the border between Afghanistan and Iran is long.
Iranian officials and Taliban officials say the clashes took place in the border region of Afghanistan's Nimroz province and Iran's Sistan province.
These provinces of both the countries also share the borders of Chaghi district of Balochistan province of Pakistan.
Ali Raza, a senior journalist from Chaghi District, says the majority of the population in both Nimroz and Sistan is made up of different Baloch tribes.
He said that the reason he had talked to the locals in Nimroz was because of the conflict between Iranian farmers and Afghan businessmen.
Apparently, the use of heavy weapons is evident in the videos circulating on social media of clashes in the area.
In one video, gunfire erupts, while in the other, people who look like Taliban are standing by a wall while smoke is seen rising from the other side of the wall.
The people seen in a video are speaking Pashto and they are saying 'Alhamdulillah'.
Analysts believe that relations between Iran and the Taliban have improved since the arrival of the Americans in Afghanistan
What do the officials of both the countries say?
The Iranian news agency IRNA quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzada as saying that border disputes in the Sistan region, which had led to armed clashes between residents of the border areas, had been resolved by the border forces and there. The clashes are over.
According to Arna, Khatibzada was speaking in the wake of clashes in Iran's Sistan region and Afghanistan's Nimroz province.
Khatibzada said the clash took place on Wednesday evening between locals on the border, which was peacefully controlled by border forces on both sides.
Iran's foreign ministry says clashes have broken out between farmers in the Helmand region of the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, which borders neighboring Afghanistan.
According to Arna, such clashes are common in the area when farmers are unable to return to their lands.
Meanwhile, Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid also said that the incident that took place on the border between Afghanistan and Iran has been brought under control.
The Taliban's relations with Iran
Former Pakistani diplomat Asif Durrani, who has served as ambassador to Iran and deputy ambassador to Afghanistan, says he does not know much about the recent clashes, but relations between Iran and the Taliban have improved since the US withdrew from Afghanistan. Are
He said that Iran was against the Taliban before the 9/11 attacks in the United States. After 9/11, Iran helped the Americans and played a key role in bringing in former Afghan President Hamid Karzai."
