Uzbekistan Power Cut Plunges Kabul and 12 Afghan Provinces Into Darkness

Severe Weather and Technical Failure Halt Critical Electricity Imports, Exposing National Grid’s Fragility

Kabul, Afghanistan – Widespread power outages have again swept through the Afghan capital and a dozen provinces after a critical electricity import line from Uzbekistan failed, compounding the humanitarian crisis during a period of severe winter weather.

Afghanistan’s national power utility, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), confirmed the collapse in supply. The outage originated from a technical failure on the crucial 220-kilovolt transmission line in the Naibabad–Pul-e-Khumri section, a vital artery for imported power. The company attributed the initial fault to damaging storms and heavy snowfall in the region.

Immediate Impact and Regional Disruption
The disruption has severed imported electricity to vast areas of the country. Key provinces affected include:

• Northern & Central Regions: Samangan, Baghlan, Parwan, Panjshir, Kapisa, and Maidan Wardak.

• Eastern Region: Kabul, Logar, Laghman, and Nangarhar.

• Southeastern Region: Paktia, Khost, and Ghazni.

This extensive outage underscores the national grid’s heavy reliance on foreign sources, with up to 80% of Kabul’s electricity and a major portion of the nation’s power historically supplied by imports from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.

Restoration Efforts Hampered by Winter Storms
DABS stated that technical teams have been dispatched to locate and repair the fault. However, restoration efforts face significant delays due to ongoing severe weather conditions, including blizzards and high winds, which make accessing the remote and mountainous transmission infrastructure hazardous and slow.

“In such extreme weather, ensuring the safety of our engineers is paramount, and the repair work will commence as soon as conditions permit,” a DABS spokesperson noted.

The utility confirmed that domestic power generation sources, including smaller hydroelectric dams, are being leveraged to provide temporary and partial relief. However, these domestic sources are insufficient to meet total demand, leading to enforced rolling blackouts even in areas with temporary supply.

A Recurring Winter Crisis with Deepening Consequences
This incident is the latest in a pattern of recurrent winter power crises. Heavy snowfall, ice accumulation, and storms frequently damage the aging transmission lines that connect Afghanistan to the Central Asian power grid.

Each outage exacerbates the severe humanitarian situation. Millions of Afghans, already grappling with economic collapse and a harsh winter, are left without heating, lighting, and essential communications. The crisis critically impacts:

• Healthcare: Hospitals and clinics, dependent on stable electricity for surgeries, diagnostics, and vaccine storage, are forced to rely on overtaxed generators, risking patient lives.

• Households: Vulnerable populations, including the elderly and children, face heightened risks from hypothermia in unheated homes.

• Economy: Businesses, from small shops to digital services, face operational paralysis, further stifling economic activity.

Systemic Vulnerability and Long-Term Challenges
Analysts point to the outage as a stark indicator of systemic vulnerabilities. Afghanistan’s profound dependency on imported electricity, coupled with inadequate domestic generation capacity and aging infrastructure, leaves the national grid perpetually exposed to technical faults and cross-border political or commercial disputes.

While DABS has expressed hopes for a restoration of the Uzbek line within the next 24-48 hours, contingent on weather improvements, the event has intensified calls for long-term investments in decentralized renewable energy and grid modernization to build a more resilient and self-sufficient power sector for Afghanistan.

 

 

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