The Kabul Tribune (KT) Turkmenistan has restored electricity supplies to Afghanistan after a technical problem disrupted power transmission, Afghanistan's national electricity company said Tuesday.
Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat, known as DABS, said electricity
transmission lines from Turkmenistan were gradually re-energized after the
technical issue was resolved and following coordination with Turkmenistan's
electricity authority, Turkmenenergo.
Electricity imports from Turkmenistan have returned to
normal, while power supplies in the affected areas are expected to recover
gradually, DABS said.
During the disruption, the Afghan utility used available
grid capacity and alternative electricity imports from Uzbekistan, Iran and
Tajikistan to compensate for the shortfall and maintain supplies to affected
areas as much as possible.
“Now, with the technical issue fully resolved,
Turkmenistan’s imported electricity has been reconnected to Afghanistan, and
electricity supply in the affected areas will gradually return to normal,” DABS
said.
The disruption had affected electricity supplies in several
northern and western provinces, including Balkh, Jawzjan, Sar-e-Pul, Faryab,
Badghis, Herat and Samangan.
Afghanistan relies heavily on imported electricity, with
Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Iran serving as its main external
suppliers. The World Bank has previously estimated that DABS purchases about
80% of its electricity from neighboring countries.
Turkmenistan is a major supplier to Afghanistan's northern
and western provinces through several cross-border transmission routes,
including the Kerki-Sheberghan line commissioned in 2021.
Uzbekistan has also been expanding its role in Afghanistan's
electricity sector. In 2025, the two countries signed agreements for four power
projects valued at about $243 million, including the 500-kilovolt
Surkhan-Dasht-e-Alwan transmission line.
The projects are intended to increase Afghanistan's capacity
to receive between 800 and 1,000 megawatts of electricity from Uzbekistan.
