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TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran welcomed the return of Hirmand River water from Afghanistan, three years after the ousted Taliban regime had blocked the supply, but said the flow was insufficient to revive the region's agriculture.
Hossein Ali Shahraki, an Energy Ministry official, said the Hirmand river reached Iran's border after flowing over 430 miles inside Afghanistan's Helmand and Nimrouz provinces.
``The water reached Iran but the flow of water is so low that it can't revive the region's agriculture. It's only sufficient for drinking,'' Shahraki told The Associated Press.
Afghanistan made it possible for Hirmand River water to return to Iran as part of an agreement reached during President Mohammad Khatami's visit to Kabul in August, the first such visit in 40 years.
Shahraki warned if the current water level remains the same, the water will not revive Hamoun Lake in Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province.
The ousted hard-line Taliban militia turned the taps off in 1999 after relations with Iran worsened. As a result, Iran's Hamoun Lake dried up and sandstorms buried about 124 villages and destroyed farmland, according to official Iranian reports.
Afghan Ambassador to Iran Ahmad Moshahed said his government was committed to a 1972 agreement that defined the flow of water to Iran and said the resumption of water was a ``good will'' gesture on the part of Afghanistan.
Moshahed said Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah had hinted that the decision to allow water back into Iran could be ``temporary'' and that the continued flow of water would depend on climate conditions.
``Several years of drought has brought disasters not only to Iran but Afghanistan too. Despite water shortages, Afghanistan has decided to share the river water with Iran but it may stop, depending on climate conditions,'' he told the AP.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the return of water to Iran was a ``great victory'' of Khatami's August visit to Afghanistan, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
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