Kabul electricity soon to be fully restored, Afghan officials say

PanARMENIAN.Net - Afghanistan's capital will soon have electricity fully restored, weeks after insurgents destroyed cables from Uzbekistan providing power to the capital, officials said on Saturday, February 20, according to the Associated Press.

The military had cleared Taliban-linked fighters from the area of northern Baghlan province where the cables were destroyed by Taliban-linked fighters, said Wahidullah Tawhidi, spokesman for the Afghanistan electricity directorate.

Engineers had reconnected some cables and the work should be completed within five days, he said.

Kabul, a city of almost 5 million, has been without secure power since late January, when militants sabotaged the cables during a military operation to clear them from the region.

As a result, residents have shivered through the last stages of a mild winter, many relying on wood-burning stoves or buying generators run on diesel.

The city relies on power transmitted via cables that stretch hundreds of kilometers (miles) across the country, AP says.

The destruction of the cables during battles between government forces and the militants exposed the vulnerability of the capital to the war largely being fought elsewhere, as well as the country's reliance on power from outside its own borders. Afghanistan also buys electricity from Tajikistan.

The governor of Baghlan, Abul Satar Barez, said the military had cleared insurgents from the Dand-e-Shahabuddin district, where the cables were cut by anti-government fighters.

"We hope that power will soon be reconnected to Kabul," he said.