On 23 April 2009, a clash erupted between the border guards of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and Iran in

Nimroz province Nimruz or Nimroz ( Balochi: ; Dari, Pashto: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southwestern part of the country. It lies to the east of the Sistan and Baluchestan province of Iran and north of Balochistan, Pakistan, als ...

near the

Afghanistan–Iran border The Afghanistan–Iran border is in length and runs from the tripoint with Turkmenistan in the north to the tripoint with Pakistan in the south. Description The border begins at the tripoint with Turkmenistan in the Harirud river before proc ...

. One Iranian

border guard A border guard of a country is a national security agency that ensures border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties. Name and uniform In diff ...

was killed in the clash and another border guard was captured by the

Afghan border police The Afghan Border Force (ABF) was a paramilitary police responsible for counterinsurgency and security of Afghanistan's border area with neighboring countries extending up to into the interior and formed part of the Afghan National Army. In ...

. According to General Saifullah Hakim, head of Afghanistan's border police in Nimroz, the cause of the clash was the incursion by the Iranian border guards into the Tang district of Nimroz province. Iran's

Press TV Press TV (stylised as PRESSTV) is an Iranian state-owned news media organisation, owned by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), that broadcasts in the English and French languages. The 24-hour channel, which has headquarters in Tehra ...

also confirmed that a clash took place between the border guards of two countries and one Iranian soldier was killed while another was captured in the clash. The two countries had also previously clashed in 2007 and 2008 and later on in 2021 and 2023.

Background

Afghanistan and Iran share a long and porous border which the smugglers use to traffic drugs into Iran. Many Afghan also illegally cross the border to enter Iran. The activity of smugglers along the Afghanistan–Iran border are a source of bilateral tensions between the two countries. Border clashes between the border guards of the two countries are common in the area.

Clash

General Saifullah Hakim, head of Afghanistan's border police in Nimroz, told

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

that the Iranian border guards had ignored the warnings issued by the Afghan forces after they illegally crossed the border into Afghanistan and entered the Tang district of Nimroz. In the resulting shoot-out with Afghan border police in Tang district, one Iranian border guard was killed while another was captured. General Hakim says that this has been acknowledged by the Iranian officials and the detained soldier along with the body of the deceased soldier will be returned to Iran. Iran's

also reported the death one Iranian soldier and the capture of the other by the Afghan border police.

Previous clashes

On 8 March 2007, one Afghan and one Iranian border guard were killed in an armed clash along the Afghanistan–Iran border. The clash also left one border guard injured on both sides. On 20 April 2008, an armed clash between the border guards of two countries left one Afghan civilian dead and two Iranian officers wounded.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2009 Afghanistan-Iran clash 2009 in the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) 2009 in Iran Spillover of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Afghanistan-Iran clash Afghanistan–Iran relations Afghanistan–Iran border 21st century in Nimruz Province

Background

Clash

Previous clashes

See also

References