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US 'Appalled' at Iran's Alleged Drowning of Afghan Migrants

Ayaz Gul

   ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - The United States has denounced as "appalling"
   reports that Iranian border guards tortured and drowned dozens of
   migrants from Afghanistan last week to prevent their entry into Iran.

   "We encourage the Afghan authorities to undertake a full investigation
   and to seek to hold those perpetrators accountable," U.S. Secretary of
   State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday at a news conference.

   Afghan officials and survivors say a group of about 60 men from their
   western Herat province was being smuggled into Iran before that
   country's border guards detained and later forced all of them into the
   Harirud River this past Saturday.

   The Kabul Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Tehran has agreed to
   jointly investigate the incident to determine the "facts and identity
   of the perpetrators."

   On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi in a
   statement refuted the charges, while expressing sympathy with the
   families of the victims.

   "This incident has occurred on Afghan soil, and the Islamic Republic of
   Iran's Border Police has denied that any happening in relation to this
   has taken place on the soil of our country," Iranian media quoted
   Mousavi as saying.

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