If Iran handed over the Mahdi to the Taliban, then this event should be called the beginning of a new chapter in relations between Afghan Shiites and Iran. A season of relationships based on distrust.
Author: Rustam Roshangar, analyst
Photo: (right to left) 11 August. Mullah Abdulatif Mansour and Ali Akbar Mehrabian, Afghan and Iranian Water Ministers in Kabul.
If the news of Mawlawi Mahdi's martyrdom at the hands of a mercenary and brutal army (Taliban) is true, and the news that Mawlawi Mahdi was arrested by the Iranians after entering Iran and handed over to the Taliban is true, then we are facing an unprecedented and significant event. Yesterday, some social networks published the news about the arrest of Mahdi, but then there was news about his martyrdom at the hands of the Taliban. Yesterday's news heightened the possibility that Iran handed him over to the Taliban.
Iran, which has tried in the last year to forge friendly relations with the Taliban and use Taliban coercion to further its own interests, called Mawlawi Mahdi's uprising against the Taliban an "American conspiracy."
Some observers believe that Iran promised the Taliban to prevent Shiite and Hazara uprisings against the Taliban. In return, the Taliban are said to have agreed to make concessions to Iran. Among them is the problem of the water of the Khirmand River, which is in dire need of Iran. A few days ago, the news was published about the release of water stored at Khirmand in the Kajaki dam to Iran. After that, the Iranian energy minister went to Kabul.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Iran sees itself as a protector of the Shiites and supports Shiite groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, etc. against governments. But in Afghanistan, it appears that Iran has betrayed Shia groups in exchange for water to a highly extremist anti-Shia Sunni government.
Many political and religious leaders of Shia and Hazara origin have negotiated with the Taliban over the past year about their share and position in power relations, but no results have been achieved. Iran played the role of an intermediary in this issue. The Taliban violated the rights of the Hazaras and Shiites at all levels and cracked down harshly on the Hazara-Shia protest movement in Balkhab.
If Iran handed over the Mahdi to the Taliban, then this event should be called the beginning of a new chapter in relations between the Shiites of Afghanistan and Iran. A season of relationships based on distrust. The Pashtun governments have always referred to the Shiites of Afghanistan as Iranian spies and for this reason, they have always been viewed with suspicion.
This act of Iran also faces a serious challenge to the meaning of the Islamic Republic's slogan of supporting and protecting the oppressed and disadvantaged Shiites from the arrogant pharaohs of the time.
The Taliban are a perfect example of an arrogant and ignorant group, ready to commit any crime against Muslims at the behest of Western intelligence agencies! Iran knows this very well, but its interests dictate that it should be ignored.
