The closure of Abrisham border connecting the western province of Nimroz with Iran has created severe problems for the Afghan citizens.
Some of the Afghan citizens called on the local officials to solve the issue. People with legal documents and visas say they have been stranded on the border for more than three days.
“It has been two days that I am waiting on the border to cross it. I have a visa and passport,” said Abdul Shokor, a resident of Herat.
“I have a residential visa for Iran. If they don’t allow me (to cross), it will expire,” said Ghulam Ali, a resident of Nimroz.
Meanwhile, some Afghans who have been deported from Iran complain over the mistreatment by Iranian border forces.
“The passengers are being disturbed and the passengers are facing a lot of problems,” said Noor Rahman, a deportee.
According to an official, the border was closed after the Iranian forces opened fire on an Afghan child.
“In recent days, in two separate events, Iranian border forces opened fire on two Afghan children, in which one child was killed and another one was wounded, and therefore, the Abrisham border is closed. We hope to reopen the border through talks,” said Mufti Habibullah Elham, head of the department of Information and Culture of Nimroz.
“Unfortunately, today, due to disputes between Iran and Afghanistan, the traders and our citizens are being harmed,” said Ahmad Javid Sedeqqi, a political analyst.
There have been many disputes along the Abrisham crossing over the past months, but this is the first time that the border was blocked by the Afghan side.
Meanwhile, the former president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called for engagement among countries in the region, including Afghanistan, in a bid to prevent the interference of other countries.
He made the remarks in an interview with TOLOnews’ Sebghat Sepehr.
“I think we should all lend brotherly hands to each other in the region and cooperate and be friendly and sincere and build up the region, and defend the region together in economic, security and political areas, and there is no other way,” Ahmadinejad said.
The former president also stressed the need for the legal immigration of Afghans to Iran.
“An individual who takes a visa and wants to come, the government is obliged to support (him/her)…. Those who face traffic accidents or face problems with their employer, if they don’t have the visa, the legal system cannot defend them,” he said.
Ahmadinejad criticized the international community’s policy toward Afghanistan.
“The world’s powerful countries look at Afghanistan as prey and make deals on it. It means there is an obvious deal going on about it,” he said.
In the interview, the former Iranian president talked about the Russian war on Ukraine, the tensions between China and Taiwan, as well the US and Iran.
“It was expected that Russia would go and take Ukraine–as Putin said to remake the former Soviet Union, meaning to bring all the lost areas together. China goes to take China and the US will come toward Iran,” he said.—Tolonews
