{"id":1216137,"date":"2022-01-14T10:50:04","date_gmt":"2022-01-14T15:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1216137"},"modified":"2022-01-14T10:50:14","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T15:50:14","slug":"kabul-suffers-blackout-after-taliban-fails-to-pay-power-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kabul-suffers-blackout-after-taliban-fails-to-pay-power-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Kabul Suffers Blackout After Taliban Fails to Pay Power Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fkabul-suffers-blackout-after-taliban-fails-to-pay-power-bill%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1216137&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">At least 16 Afghan provinces including Kabul province, which contains the nation\u2019s capital city of Kabul, suffered electricity blackouts on Thursday, Afghanistan\u2019s online news service&nbsp;Khaama Press <a href=\"https:\/\/www.khaama.com\/kabul-in-a-blackout-uzbekistans-electricity-to-afghanistan-decreased-by-60-8768586\/\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Afghanistan\u2019s state power monopoly, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), issued a statement on January 12 confirming \u201ca shortage of electricity and blackout in 16 provinces including the Afghan capital Kabul.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>DABS attempted to blame the power outages on Afghanistan\u2019s neighbor, Uzbekistan, which it said had \u201cdecreased\u201d the amount of electricity it usually supplies to Afghanistan by \u201c60 percent\u201d in recent days. Afghanistan\u2019s state-run power company neglected to mention on Tuesday that the Taliban, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/08\/15\/local-media-afghan-government-handing-country-to-taliban\/\">seized<\/a> control of Afghanistan\u2019s government on August 15, 2021, has failed to pay bills owed to its electricity suppliers, including those in Uzbekistan, since coming to power. Afghanistan does not have its own national power grid and thus <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/kabul-faces-blackout-as-taliban-dont-pay-electricity-suppliers-11633257932\">relies<\/a>&nbsp;on foreign imports for roughly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2021-10-06\/afghanistan-asks-un-to-pay-power-bills-before-country-goes-dark\">78 percent<\/a> of its electricity supply.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElectricity imports from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan account for half of Afghanistan\u2019s power consumption nationwide, with Iran providing additional supplies to the country\u2019s west,\u201d the <em>Wall Street Journal<\/em>&nbsp;(<em>WSJ<\/em>) reported on October 3, 2021.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDomestic production, mostly at hydropower stations, has been affected by this year\u2019s drought,\u201d the business-focused newspaper noted of Afghanistan\u2019s power supply at the time.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cAfghanistan usually pays $20 million to $25 million a month in total to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Iran and now unpaid bills stand at $62 million,\u201d Safiullah Ahmadzai, then-acting C.E.O. of DABS, told Bloomberg on October 6, 2021.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Taliban terrorists in Kabul have started painting over murals, including one of George Floyd, with &#8220;victory slogans&#8221; applauding themselves. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/iC36GinBXQ\">https:\/\/t.co\/iC36GinBXQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartNews\/status\/1435679770927378432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 8, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Afghanistan\u2019s neighbors could cut their power supplies to Kabul \u201cany day they want,\u201d Ahmadzai said, foreshadowing the capital\u2019s current electricity blackout.<\/p>\n<p>The DABS C.E.O. said at the time he had recently asked the United Nations (U.N.) for assistance in paying Afghanistan\u2019s overdue power bills but had not received a response.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve asked the UNAMA in Kabul to assist the people of Afghanistan to pay the country\u2019s power suppliers as part of their humanitarian aid,\u201d Ahmadzai told Bloomberg by phone on October 6, 2021. He referred to \u201cUNAMA,\u201d or the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Just 38 percent of Afghanistan\u2019s population of 38 million have access to electricity under normal circumstances. The Taliban\u2019s seizure of power last August prompted an ongoing period of political instability in Afghanistan that has affected its power situation.<\/p>\n<p>The country was already beleaguered by decades of war and relied almost entirely on foreign sources \u2014 such as the United Nations and the U.S., which backed its previous government in Kabul from 2001 through August 15, 2021 \u2014 for financial support.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19488258\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2022\/01\/GettyImages-1237716343.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-19488258\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/GettyImages-1237716343-1024x681-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"990\" height=\"658\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>A burqa-clad woman carrying a child begs for alms on a street in Kabul on January 14, 2022. (MOHD RASFAN\/AFP via Getty)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cAt the time of the Taliban takeover, DABS had some $40 million in cash in its accounts,\u201d <em>WSJ<\/em> recalled on Ocotber 3, 2021.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Taliban, starved of funds because of international sanctions, haven\u2019t approved the use of that money to pay invoices from power suppliers,\u201d the newspaper revealed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDABS liabilities have since grown to more than $90 million and are rising,\u201d Ahmadzai told <em>WSJ<\/em> at the time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCollection from customers, meanwhile, shrunk by 74 percent last month, with only $8.9 million in revenue since Aug. 15,\u201d the newspaper reported, citing DABS officials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At least 16 Afghan provinces including Kabul province, which contains the nation\u2019s capital city of Kabul, suffered electricity blackouts on Thursday, Afghanistan\u2019s online news service\u00a0Khaama Press reported. Afghanistan\u2019s state power &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1216137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1216137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1216137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1216137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1216137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}