Cold Kabul residents plead for power as frequent outages obstruct factory ops

Afghanistan, amid bitter political chaos, is now facing prolonged power cuts in a punishing winter. Frequent power outages have been reported across parts of Afghanistan, according to Tolo News. Kabul, the Afghan capital, has power for just around four to five hours a day. Citizens have been looking to local Taliban leaders for solutions.

"The issue of electricity has reached its peak, especially in the Makrorayan area, because we cannot use gas and the heating system is not activated yet, a Kabul resident told Tolo News, a local Afghanistan based news network. "There is water shortage. If we don't have electricity, we don't have water too," he said.    

Power outages in Kabul are also impacting businesses in the city's industrial park. Business communities say outages are obstructing factory operations in the region. “We don't have electricity even for one hour. We should use thermal power resources until the transmission lines for power supply from Uzbekistan are reconnected,” Sakhi Ahmad Payman, the first deputy of the Chamber of the Industry and Mine, told Tolo News. 

Citizens shiver in spine-chilling winter

Amanullah Ghalib, former chairman of the country’s power distributor, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), said there is a need to increase investment in producing electricity in the country. According to Tolo News, Afghanistan imports most of its power from countries like Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Iran.

A DABS spokesperson said at least 30% of the electricity in Kabul is supplied through internal sources. “Efforts are underway to provide electricity for people for two hours,” said the spokesperson. The news of the prolonged power outages in the national capital came a few days after the draconian Taliban regime introduced Afghanistan’s first supercar, ‘Mada 9’.