Iran is raising its voice in a long-running dispute with Afghanistan over water rights. Four years of drought has left Lake Hamoun in eastern Iran completely dry. UN officials said that the effects of the drought were exacerbated when the Taliban dammed the Helmand River in central Afghanistan, which waters the lake. "Now that the Taliban militia has collapsed it is time for a new round of negotiations", the Iran Daily reported. The lake is Iran's largest body of freshwater, it once covered over 4,000 km2 and supported thousands of hectares of pasture, cane plantations and forest. Deer, fox, otters, wild cats and several species of migratory birds flourished in the surrounding wetlands, but have now all but disappeared. "Life used to be pleasant here," Gollbibi Chari, 60, a villager who has spent her entire life in the vicinity of the lake told the New York Times. "But there is no life here anymore, only dust and sand."

Source: BBC, 19 Jun 2002