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The Afghanistan Power Distribution Department (under Taliban control) announced on Thursday, December 6, the signing of a contract to purchase electricity from Tajikistan.
According to the announcement, Mohammad Hanif Hamza, the CEO of Afghanistan’s electricity company, and Mohammad Omar Asazadeh, the CEO of Tajikistan’s electricity company, signed a contract for the extension of electricity purchase in Turkey. According to this contract, Tajikistan will continue to supply electricity to Afghanistan in 2024, as in the past.
The Afghanistan Power Company, under Taliban control, also stated that discussions have been held with Tajik officials regarding the extension of a new 500-kilovolt electricity transmission line from Tajikistan to Afghanistan.
According to the announcement, officials of the power company have also discussed the resumption of work on the 1000-grid electricity project with Tajik officials. The company has stated that Tajikistan has expressed willingness in this regard.
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The CASA 1000 project is a project to transmit electricity from Tajikistan to Afghanistan and from Afghanistan to Iran, which was supposed to be completed in 2016 but remained unfinished due to political and security issues in Afghanistan.
Even though the Taliban has not yet been able to form a formal government with international legitimacy, they have signed various economic contracts with neighboring countries in the field of electricity, mining, gas, exports, and transit.
Last week, Mohammad Hanif Hamza, the head of the Taliban regime’s power distribution department, met with the Energy Minister of Uzbekistan in Tashkent and extended the contract for purchasing electricity from this country for 2024.
Although Afghanistan has good water resources for electricity production, for more than 20 years, it has procured the majority of its electricity needs from neighboring countries. According to the latest statistics provided by the Afghanistan Power Company, 80% of the country’s 14,000 megawatts of electricity needed is purchased from Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
However, a large part of Afghanistan’s cities, including the capital, are deprived of electricity for several hours every day.