Iran’s Revolutionary Guards clash with Taliban at Sistan-Balochistan border

Tehran/Kabul – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards clashed with Taliban militants on the Sistan-Balochistan border. The preliminary reports indicate the killing of Taliban militants and the Taliban trying to take over Iran’s military outposts. However, this is yet to be confirmed. But Iran has stated that the clash was a result of a misunderstanding.

The clash erupted on the border of Kang district in Nimruz province of Afghanistan. Iran has erected a security wall near the Shaghalak border in Iran’s Sistan-Balochistan province to prevent smuggling from Afghanistan. The security wall constructed is well within the Iranian border and beyond the wall is the actual border. On Wednesday, local Iranian farmers crossed the fence and were fired upon by Taliban militants from across the border.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards responded immediately to the shooting after realizing that the farmers were within Iranian borders. Iranian troops launched artillery attacks on Taliban militants. After a while, the firing stopped. A spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said in a statement that the clash occurred due to a ‘misunderstanding’. However, he refrained from naming the Taliban in his statement.

The Taliban has not commented on this issue, but local Taliban militants have released videos of the clashes. It showed Taliban militants infiltrating through the Iranian border and taking control of Iranian security posts. A news agency affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards denied the allegations in the video. The news agency also claimed that there was peace on the Sistan-Balochistan border. A senior Iranian official in charge of the Sistan-Balochistan border has blamed Taliban militants for the border tensions.

Iran and Afghanistan are neighbours with extensive border sharing in the Sistan-Balochistan province of Iran. Iran has accused Afghanistan and Pakistan of carrying out large-scale smuggling across the border. Iran built a security wall a few years ago to prevent such smuggling. This led to reports of border clashes between the armies of Pakistan and Iran. As long as there was a democratic government in Afghanistan, there was no tension on this border. But this is the first time a clash has been reported after the Taliban regime came to power in Afghanistan.

Iran has not recognized the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Iran has demanded that the Taliban establish a comprehensive government in Afghanistan and give Shiites their due rights. The Taliban is not willing to accept this demand. Therefore, over the past few months, Iran seems to have taken a very cautious stance on the Taliban.