Ethnic tensions push Iran-Afghanistan relations to the edge

Kabul [Afghanistan], April 29 (ANI): After border tensions, ethnic tensions also erupted between Kabul and Tehran after an Afghan immigrant stabbed three Iranian clerics into a holy shrine in Iran killing two of them and severely wounding the third one.
The incident took place at Imam Reza Shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad. Following the attack diplomatic tensions intensified between the countries. Both the counties have ramped up their troops on the common border, reported NY Times.
On Wednesday, Iranian officials said that the two countries were in discussions to defuse the situation and that a Taliban delegation may soon travel to Tehran for talks.
After the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August last year, the relations between both countries have been extremely fragile. After the attack, there is a fear of retaliation among Afghans who are living in Iran. Soon unverified and graphic videos, reportedly years old, of Iranians harassing Afghans started circulating on Afghan social media, setting off an anti-Iranian furor in Afghanistan, as per the media outlet.
On Saturday, a dispute occurred between Afghanistan and Iranian border forces in the Islam Qala district of Herat province after Islamic Emirate forces wanted to pave a road alongside the border. Afghan and Iranian border forces have faced each other several times in Nimroz and Herat provinces since the Islamic Emirate took power in Afghanistan last year.
Furthermore, an Afghan delegation led by the Taliban's acting minister of refugees and repatriations is set to visit Iran's capital Tehran to hold talks over refugee-related challenges and the border tension.
"We are trying to visit Iran to talk about all the problems that Afghans are struggling with there; we hope we can talk and solve the problems," said Khalilurahman Haqqani, acting minister of refugee and repatriations. (ANI)