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| | RFE/RL Iran Report |
 | | Farmers in Iran's southeastern Sistan va Baluchistan Province depend on water from Afghanistan's extensively used Hirmand (Helmand) River to irrigate their crops, and the division of the waters has been a contentious issue for many years. |
 | | In March 1969, for example, Kabul would agree to ensure water flow to Iran only in exchange for credit facilities, improved access to Iranian ports, and development assistance, according to the diaries of Iranian Minister of Court Asadollah Alam ("The Shah and I," Alinaghi Alikhani, ed., London, 1991). |
 | | And when the Afghan legislature discussed a new agreement on the Hirmand in October 1972, Tehran feared that it would be costly: Iranian monarch Mohammad Reza Pahlavi said, "authorize him [the Iranian ambassador to Kabul] to make the payoffs if you really think they're necessary." |
| www.globalsecurity.org /wmd/library/news/iran/2002/43-251102.htm (2926 words) |
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