The Taliban movement accused Uzbekistan of failing to fulfill its obligations to supply electricity, Podrobno.uz reports.
The National Electricity Company of Afghanistan (Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat - DABS) on January 13 announced the suspension of supplies from Uzbekistan. It was during this period that Uzbekistan experienced an acute energy crisis due to severe cold. Due to the lack of electricity and gas, many regions of the country were left without heat and light. Uzbekistan was forced to suspend the export of electricity and use it for domestic needs.
Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Amir Khan Muttaki urged the Uzbek authorities to fulfill the previously concluded agreements on the supply of electricity. According to him, because of such actions, the population of Afghanistan faced problems.
“The meaning of brotherhood and neighborhood is to cooperate and help in a difficult situation,” he said during the opening ceremony of the Agricultural Development Fund, saying that Uzbekistan must fulfill its contractual obligations.
Recall that in January last year, the National Electric Grids of Uzbekistan and DABS signed a contract for the supply of electricity in 2022. According to the document, 2 billion kWh of electricity worth $100 million were to be supplied to Afghanistan during the year. There are no contract details for this year yet.
Electricity has been supplied from Uzbekistan to Afghanistan since 2002.
Now a project is being worked out for the construction of a new 500 kV line “Surkhan - Puli-Khumri” on the territory of Afghanistan. As a result of the implementation of this initiative, Afghanistan will be provided with a daily supply of 24 million kWh or 6 billion kWh of electricity per year. The total length of the transmission line is 245.6 km, of which 45 km are in Uzbekistan and 200.6 km in Afghanistan.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
January 23, 2023