Afghanistan has settled its multimillion-dollar outstanding debts owed to Uzbekistan for electric power supplies, the Uzbek Ministry of Energy (MoE) has announced.

A MoE said on August 1 that the Afghan power company, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat, or DABS, has fully settled what it owed Uzbekistan for the 2,151.3 kilowatt hours of electricity supplied in 2021. 

DABS is reportedly also paying on time for this year’s supplies.

The MoE did not specify the size of the debt that had been owed.

However, Afghan news agency TOLOnews, citing the Afghan Ministry of Energy and Water (MoEW), reported on May 18 that that Afghanistan owes more than US$100 million for electricity imported from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, the bulk of it, about US$70 million, due to Uzbekistan.

The Uzbek MoE says Uzbekistan has supplied electricity to Afghanistan since 2002.  “In the early years, electricity from the 100kV transmission networks based on the technological capabilities of contracts concluded with DABS.  Since 2009, after construction of two 220kV power transmission lines, up to 430 MW of electricity has been supplied to Afghanistan,” the ministry said.