TEHRAN – Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran’s presidential envoy for Afghanistan who simultaneously serves as Tehran’s Ambassador to Kabul, met on Tuesday with the United Nations secretary-general’s envoy for Afghanistan. 

Qomi discussed with Markus Potzel, the Deputy Special Representative (Political) for Afghanistan in the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), ways to help the Afghan people. 

In the meeting, consultations and exchange of views were held regarding increasing cooperation between Iran and the United Nations to help the people of Afghanistan, according to IRIB News. 

The issue of Afghan refugees, humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan in the current tough and difficult situation, as well as helping to establish stability, are among the common areas of cooperation between Iran and the United Nations to help the people of the war-hit country.

Currently, about six million Afghans live in Iran, and inside Afghanistan, two-thirds of the country's population needs humanitarian aid.

The meeting came after tensions between Iran and the Taliban subsided. Tensions between Tehran and Kabul had flared up over water issues and border clashes. 

In the latest de-escalatory step, the Taliban have agreed to let Iranian specialists assess the quantity of water behind the Kajaki dam in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, according to Iran’s envoy in Kabul, despite a dispute between the two neighbors about who gets how much water from the Helmand River.

Qomi stated during a televised interview that Iran is making significant efforts to defend its rights to a portion of water from the Helmand River.

The Taliban have now agreed to allow Iranian experts to personally inspect the situation and observe the amount of water behind the Kajaki dam, the envoy noted, describing it as a “good step” despite Kabul officials’ claims that the issue is caused by lack of water and Tehran’s insistence on verification of the matter.

Iran and Afghanistan have been locked in a protracted dispute over the water of the Helmand River, which originates in the Hindu Kush Mountains near Kabul and flows 700 miles (1,126 kilometers) south before flowing into the Hamoun wetlands in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan.