Last Thursday news wire reports carried comments by Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah about the recent release of water from the Kajaki Dam in Afghanistan which raised eyebrows in Tehran.

"The opening of the Kajaki's gates and the flow of Hirmand River water into Iran was in response to a request by Seyed Mohammad Khatami, and is a good-will gesture by the transitional Islamic government of Afghanistan, and for a short duration," Abdullah was quoted as saying. He added that the river's flow is less than the limit specified in a treaty between the two neighbors, therefore "because of good neighborly relations and humanitarian reasons, it was agreed to release some water during the current year."

Well, let us begin at the beginning. In 1973, after long and protracted negotiations, Iran and Afghanistan signed a treaty governing the flow of Hirmand River water into Iran. Article 5 of the treaty explicitly states that in dry years, Iran's share of Hirmand water is at least two cubic meters of water per second, and in regular years Iran has the right to 26 cubic meters per second.

Thus, Iran has the law on its side. Not to mention all that the Islamic Republic has given in blood and treasure over the past two decades to succor the Afghan mujahedin and fight the dual menace of the Taleban and their allies, the drug traffickers.

Also, the matter is not a mere technicality about a neighboring country reneging on a treaty. It is a matter of life and death for some of the most deprived Iranian citizens, i.e. those who inhabit the gentle, yet extremely harsh and arid Province of Sistan-Baluchestan.

News Reports and television footage from the region show a devastated, parched land, suffering from five consecutive years of drought, with the province's agriculture yields reduced to only 4 percent of normal years. Some ecologists even predict that any sizable human habitation in the province is at serious risk.

Therefore, Iran is not in a position to forego even a drop of the water it needs and has every right to. In other words, Afghans need to understand that all agriculture in a huge province in their neighboring country depends on the Hirmand River and that they have solemn treaty obligations to allow access to some of the water that flows through the common river.

Iran also has some facts on its side which bear mentioning here. At almost the same time Abdullah was speaking of Afghan good will and generosity in allowing a trickle of the Hirmand to reach Iran, yet another fully equipped medical clinic set up by the Iranian Red Crescent Society was inaugurated in Afghanistan's Neemroze Province.

Neemroze's governor, thanking Iran for its efforts in the reconstruction of his war-stricken country, said that work on the clinic had begun a year ago, adding, "Iran, both during the years of jihad

[against the Soviet army], and now during reconstruction has been there for the Afghans. Iran has had an active role in Afghan reconstruction through shipments of much-needed food and medical aid and various road and electricity projects."

What makes Foreign Minister Abdullah's remarks even more puzzling is the fact that the current Afghan government was the recipient of all the Islamic Republic could provide in arms and logistics -- not to mention a safe sanctuary for war-wary mujahids in their long years of struggle against foreign occupation. Iran also continues to host some 3 million Afghans at a time when unemployment here has reached crisis levels.

Therefore, some analysts here suggest that Abdullah's words at the end of his talks with U.S. officials should be treated as the words of a politician whose country and leaders need -- for the time being -- the good grace and approval of the U.S. government for their very survival.