Afghanistan blackouts: Why Taliban-led country is facing power crisis, solution

Several prominent provinces in Afghanistan including the capital city, Kabul, reported several electricity outages on Wednesday after power supply to the country from Uzbekistan was stopped due to some ‘technical glitch’, reported news agency Sputnik citing a statement by Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), Afghanistan’s state power company.

“The technical staff is working to resolve this issue as soon as possible,” the statement issues by DABS said.

The power disruption came just a day after the Afghan capital suffered a similar blackout amid claims that the country’s new Taliban regime has not yet paid Central Asian electricity suppliers or reinstated the framework to collect money from consumers.

Why is Afghanistan facing a power supply crisis?

According to Wall Street Journal and several other media reports, the new Taliban regime is facing difficulties in paying dues to Central Asian electricity suppliers and almost 80% of the supply of Afghanistan’s entire power consumption is imported from neighbouring countries like Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.

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It is said that the militant group took over Afghanistan’s power without realising its debt and now in the absence of proper fundings and framework to collect taxes, the rulers are unable to clear debts, which might have been the result of frequent blackouts in the country.

How can the Taliban combat this situation?

According to Safiullah Ahamdzai, the acting head of DABAS, Afghanistan’s electricity body is reportedly intending to sell off the estates of its debtors in a bid to pay the nearly $62 million worth of power bills to the central Asian countries.

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The power body head further told the news agencies that the plan will be implemented, all debts will be cleared to prevent electricity exporting countries from cutting off the supply.

However, a former head of DABS, Daud Noorzai told WSJ that in case the Taliban fail to implement the ‘plan’ and do not pay off the bills to the Central Asian energy suppliers, electricity supply to the Afghan capital province of Kabul could be cut off by winter.