Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, who recently visited Kabul, said on Wednesday that the Taliban authorities have agreed to repatriate Iranian prisoners currently held in Afghanistan, following high-level talks between the two sides.
Gharibabadi said the agreement was reached during a recent visit by an Iranian delegation he led to Kabul. The visit included meetings with several top Taliban officials.
“An agreement was reached for the return of Iranian prisoners,” Gharibabadi wrote, without specifying how many prisoners would be repatriated or under what timeline.
According to Gharibabadi, the delegation held talks with the Taliban’s acting deputy foreign minister, the minister of borders and tribal affairs, the head of the Order Enforcement Directorate, and the deputy minister of water and energy. Discussions focused on a wide range of issues including border security, transboundary water disputes, and legal cooperation.
Gharibabadi said the two sides agreed to resume a long-stalled project to renovate and update border markers, which has been on hold for seven years. He also noted that the technical and legal joint committee between the two sides will convene in tandem to address remaining ambiguities along the border.
The talks also touched on shared security concerns, with both sides emphasizing the need to strengthen border management to combat drug trafficking, human smuggling, and the movement of extremist groups.
On the issue of water rights, Gharibabadi reiterated Iran’s demand for the full implementation of the 1973 Helmand River Treaty, which governs the flow of water from Afghanistan’s Helmand River into Iran. He also stressed the need to ensure environmental water flows to the Hamoun wetlands, which have suffered from drying, as well as to establish a legal framework for the transboundary Harirud River.
Taliban have not publicly commented on the outcome of the meetings or confirmed the reported agreements.
