RASC News Agency: Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), Afghanistan’s state-run electricity provider currently under Taliban administration, has announced the signing of four major electricity supply agreements with Uzbekistan. According to a press release issued on Saturday, 2nd Sunbula, these agreements are intended to provide electricity to eleven Afghanistani provinces and to increase Kabul’s power generation capacity to 1,500 megawatts. The outlined projects include the construction of a 500 kV Surkhan–Dasht-e-Alwan transmission line, the expansion of the Dasht-e-Alwan power station, the development of a 220 kV Kabul–Nangarhar transmission line, and the upgrade of the Sheikh-Masri power station in Nangarhar. Once completed, the provinces of Kabul, Kandahar, Baghlan, Nangarhar, Laghman, Logar, Khost, Paktia, Paktika, Ghazni, and Zabul are expected to fall under a new, integrated electricity network.
The press release emphasizes that these contracts were signed with companies affiliated with Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Energy in Kabul, with the stated objective of reducing reliance on Afghanistan’s limited domestic energy sources and improving sustainable electricity access for the Afghanistani population. However, the announcement comes at a time when Afghanistani citizens across the country continue to face frequent power outages and chronic electricity shortages. Even in Kabul, the nation’s largest energy consumer, prolonged blackouts have become a normalized aspect of daily life.
Energy analysts caution that while these projects may temporarily mitigate electricity shortages, Afghanistan remains structurally dependent on imported energy, making it vulnerable to any political or economic disruption in its neighboring suppliers. Without robust domestic production capacity, any instability in electricity imports could quickly escalate into a broader humanitarian and economic crisis. Moreover, skepticism abounds regarding the Taliban’s capacity, technical expertise, and financial resources to implement these projects effectively. Over the past years, the Taliban administration has signed numerous electricity supply agreements both domestic and international for provinces including Kabul. Yet, as widespread public sentiment indicates, many of these agreements remain largely paper commitments, with little real impact on energy availability.
The announcement also underscores a broader pattern of Taliban governance failures, highlighting the disconnect between ambitious promises and tangible outcomes. Persistent blackouts, inefficient administration, and lack of accountability reveal a regime that relies on high-profile agreements for international optics, rather than meaningful infrastructure development. Experts stress that even if these contracts are fully executed, they will not fundamentally resolve Afghanistan’s energy crisis, nor will they address the underlying governance deficiencies of the Taliban. Without transparent management, adequate technical capacity, and international oversight, such projects risk becoming yet another example of Taliban mismanagement, leaving Afghanistani citizens to bear the consequences of chronic energy insecurity.
In essence, the Taliban’s announcement may signal an intention to improve electricity access, but history and public skepticism suggest that the regime’s structural incompetence and reliance on imported energy could undermine the long-term viability of these initiatives. For Afghanistani citizens, the promise of stable electricity remains contingent not on paper agreements but on a functioning and accountable government something the Taliban has consistently failed to provide.
