Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) announced on Tuesday that due to technical issues, electricity imported from Uzbekistan will be temporarily cut off. The power outage will impact Kabul and twelve other provinces of Afghanistan.
DABS didn’t provide further details about when the power outage will start.
DABS, however, stressed that based on officials of Uzbekistan, the adjustments and changes are temporary and will be completed soon.
In August this year, Afghanistan settled its multimillion-dollar outstanding debts owed to Uzbekistan for electric power supplies. It had owed Uzbekistan for the 2,151.3 kilowatt hours of electricity supplied in 2021.
However, Tajikistan is still waiting for its payments. In July Tajikistan received $2 million from Afghanistan toward the debt, which now stands at over $28 million.
Afghanistan imports over 80 percent of its electricity, at an annual cost of some $220 million, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a watchdog created by the U.S. Congress. In Afghanistan, only 22% of the 1,600 megawatts used each year are produced nationally, while the rest is imported from neighbouring countries.
Uzbekistan is its biggest electricity supplier. This year, around half of Afghanistan’s imported power is coming from Uzbekistan, and most of the rest from Tajikistan.
Both have long-duration electricity supply agreements signed before the Taliban returned to power, which are adjusted annually. The Afghans are contracted to pay Uzbekistan $100 million and Tajikistan $69 million for the power supplies.
Any halt to electricity supplies from Central Asia risks leaving over 10 million Afghans in the dark, the United Nations Development Program, or UNDP, has previously warned.
