IRAN-AFGHANISTAN: TROUBLE OVER THE HELMAND RIVER WATERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000100130004-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 6, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: November 18, 1971
• Content Type: MISC

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/16 :CIA-RDP08C01297R000100130004-5
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INTELLIGENCE. NOTE
November 18, 1971
IRAN-AFGHANISTAN: TROUBLE OVER THE HELMAND RIVER WATERS
Three years of drought have revived differences between Iran and
Afghanistan over the division of the Helmand River waters in the arid
:regions along their common borders. This issue has been an irritant to
Iran-Afghan relations since 1872, and the two countries have been trying
~~
to reach a foro>al agreement on it since the ear1~ 195Q;~. The
Afghan government says it intends to press on with conclusion and parlia-
mentary consideration of the nearly-complete agreement, but mutual distrust,
misunderstandings, and recriminations over the use of what little water
there is this year have injected an extra note of strain into Tehran-
Kabu7 relations.
The current controversy was triggered in June 197] by the visit to
Kabu] of an Iranian fact-finding mission sent to investigate Helmand
water shortages. Afghan legislators and the Kabul vernacular press saw
Iranian complaints about the paucity of Helmand water reaching Iran's
Sistan province as symptomatic of the overbearing attitude of the
Iranians toward their "country cousins" in Afghanistan. Afghan ill-
feeling was enhanced by the GOI's issuance, during last month`s 25th
This ?port was produced by the Bureau
of Intelligence and Research. Aside from
normd substantive exchange with other
agencies at the working level, it has not
been coordinoted elsewhere.
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grading and declassification
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IRAN-AFGHANISTAN
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 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/16 :CIA-RDP08C01297R000100130004-5
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Centenary celebrations, of maps and publicity handouts featuring past
Persian control of large areas now belonging to Afghanistan.
The Afghan government is hampered by the need to proceed cautiously
in dealing with its inexperienced parliament. Any appearance of capitu-
lation to Iranian pressure could lead to demonstrations by unruly Afghan+Y
farmers already critical of government relief measures in the drought-
stricken regions.
On the Iranian side, the government is under some pressure from
the waterless inhabitants of Sistan; the bureaucracy is probably getting
a distorted picture of the facts in the case from subordinate officials;
and Tehran's willingness to compromise may well be reduced by the
general Iranian conviction that Afghans are slow and devious.
The Helmand waters dispute generally subsides when water is plenti-
ful. This year's crisis is important only if it further delays a formal
agreement on the division of the waters. Fortunately, both sides are
responding favorably to U.S. counsels of restraint and seem to be moving
toward an interim resolution of the dispute through resort to an im-
partial fact-finding and mediatory mission from the World Bank, whose
experts have considerable knowledge of the technicalities of the problem
and of the region.
It~lt/iiear East and South Asia
Director:
Curtis F. Jones
Analyst
Peter S. ~laher~y:
Ext. 21430
CUNT IUEN~TIAL
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Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/16 :CIA-RDP08C01297R000100130004-5