An Investigation into the Impact of Natural Factors on the Security along Eastern Borders of Iran Using Remote Sensing (Case Study: Iran-Afghanistan Border Zone in Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran)

Prelude:

 Due to the special characteristics and conditions of Security of the border, deployment of security in such areas is important.any form of insecurity in a border zone can seriously threaten different aspects of security in the country. Deployment of security along the border and in the border zone requires in the first place, investigation, and identification of natural and human-made features within the border zone. identification of natural and geographic features of a border zone is of paramount importance owing to the crucial role played by such bio-foundations in the social life and development of the border zone. They further contribute largely to borderline monitoring, management, and control systems.

Goal: 

The present research seeks to investigate the states of natural features, including the border stream, topography, and vegetation, in the Iran-Afghanistan border zone in Khorasan Razavi and further evaluates their impact on borderline and border zone security. materials and ways: the required data was extracted from the OLI sensor on the Landsat Satellite(2018), with the data then analyzed using GIS and remote sensing techniques in the ENVI  5.3 .

The findings showed that water scarcity and insufficient depth of Harirood River in most parts of the year set the scene for illegal trafficking of goods and drugs across the border, negatively impacting the border zone security. This further holds true for the seasonal lake of Namakar in the border zone between the two countries. Considering the topography, existing maps indicate that the presence of highlands in the vicinity of the Iran-Afghanistan borderline and extension of particular highlands into the mainland of Afghanistan have negatively influenced the border security.