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shipments globally. Of course, if the Taliban regime doesn’t play ball then at least the Central Asian parts of those objectives may hit a brick wall.
The Taliban and Shi’ite Iran have long been enemies but if some mutual accommodation can be found other projects to check for progress are the first rail link between Afghanistan and Iran—the Khaf-Herat railway, which when built could also facilitate Turkey-Afghanistan trade via Iranian rail access—and wind farm projects on the Iranian-Afghan border. Analysts say that with 30,000 MWe potential of wind power capacity, the Iran-Afghanistan border area is one of the world’s most windy regions.
2.5 Afghans protest in Tehran as homeland falls to Taliban
Hundreds of Afghan residents of Tehran protested against the Taliban retaking control of their country at a demonstration outside Afghanistan’s embassy in the Iranian capital, ISNA reported on August 15.
Iran is home to several million Afghans, many of whom have married Iranians in the past 30 years. Large groups of Hazaras, a Shi’ite ethnic Turkic group, make up the bulk of the Afghan population in Tehran and other cities.
People at the protest reportedly chanted “Death to Pakistan, Death to the Taliban”. Afghans in Iran often make the claim that the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was facilitated by the Pakistani intelligence service.
Earlier on August 15, the director general of border affairs at the Iranian Ministry of Interior, Hossein Ghasemi, said: "Despite the critical situation in Afghanistan and the possibility of Afghan citizens entering the country, a plan for the temporary accommodation of these citizens in the provinces of Khorasan Razavi, South Khorasan and Sistan and Baluchestan was prepared and implemented two months ago."
He added: "Since 1398 [the Persian year that ran from March 2019 to March 2020], whenever the negotiations between the Taliban and Afghan groups and other countries were discussed, we have been monitoring the developments in Afghanistan in the form of a specialised committee with the presence of various relevant agencies."
Turkey, meanwhile, has been attempting to finish a wall along its border with Iran to stop flows of Afghan migrants fleeing the Taliban entering Turkish territory via an Iranian route.
10 IRAN Country Report September 2021 www.intellinews.com