This policy brief shares key findings and implications for policy from an XCEPT study on the escalation in violence along the Afghanistan-Iran border on 27 May 2023. The study addresses the misconception that this conflict was concerned solely – or even primarily – with the distribution of
water between the states along the Helmand River and growing tensions over upstream water diversion by Afghanistan.
Missing the target: Examining the causes of the conflict on the Afghanistan-Iran border in May 2023
This brief contains policy considerations and implications resulting from violent clashes between Iranian and Afghan border forces in May 2023.