Taliban made 'no request' to UNAMA to pay energy bills worth $90 million: UN Spokesperson

As fears of a total blackout loom in Afghanistan due to power supply cut off, worsening the humanitarian crisis after the Taliban failed to pay electricity bills to the energy suppliers, the United Nations on October 6 stated that it received no official request to pay bills to electricity suppliers from the Taliban.

Spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Stephane Dujarric, addressing a press conference on October 6, said: "UNAMA has not received any requests from any Afghan entity to make any payments regarding the energy which is what the report cited." His remarks came after reports emerged that the Taliban had asked the United Nations-led mission to pay approximately $90 million to settle past due bills with the Central Asian suppliers before the country plunges into darkness. 

Afghanistan on verge of plunging into 'dark ages'

Reports earlier revealed that since the Taliban’s takeover of the territory in mid-August, electricity bills haven’t been paid to countries that supplied a total of 78% of energy. Experts fear that drastic measures would be needed to prevent the country from returning into dark ages such as the Taliban scrambling to collect funds from citizens to pay off the utility bills. While Afghanistan does not have its own national power grid, its electricity is currently being supplied by neighbouring nations of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. But since August 15, the Taliban hasn’t paid the Central Asian suppliers the money for the utilities, and now runs the risk of immersing into the countrywide power failure.

At a press conference earlier this week, Safiullah Ahmadzai, the acting CEO of Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat, told reporters that the now Taliban ruled central Asian country paid  $20 million to $25 million a month in bills to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Iran. But since the ouster of the former Ghani government, the country has an outstanding bill amount that stands at $62 million and the supplier nations may cut the power supply “any day" now. “We’ve asked the UNAMA in Kabul to assist the people of Afghanistan to pay the country’s power suppliers as part of their humanitarian aid,” Ahmadzai was reported as saying. The UN, however, denied the claim.