Under the shadow of the Taliban, Afghanistan is struggling with thousands of political, social, and financial challenges. Lack of power always makes our people furious. Talking about electricity and the lack of electricity has become a joke.
With the arrival of summer and the days getting hotter in Kabul, the lack of electricity increases. The people of Kabul, understanding the difficult situation, have no choice but to be patient.
Sajjad, a resident of Kart-e-Seh, complains about the lack of electricity in an interview with VOC News.
“There is too much outage,” he says. Currently, we only have 8 hours of electricity in 24 hours. It does not come during the day, nor does it appear at night.
He considers the current situation to be worse compared to the Republican period. “It was better at the time,” he says sadly. We had electricity at least at night, after midnight, if not during the day. Currently, it comes and goes after an hour. Some nights, it comes at dinner time and leaves after an hour. On the other hand, the cost of electricity has also increased. It costs thousands of Afghanis monthly.
Shafi, another resident of Kabul, says, “I am an educated person. I go to work every day after school. When I go home at night, there is no electricity. It makes me nervous. Several times we went to the electricity station to find out why our electricity was so bad, but the electrician didn’t say anything. He has no manners.”
Gholam Nabi is a shopkeeper. He has a grocery store. When I asked him about the challenges of a lack of electricity, he had a bitter smile on his face, which had a Masnawi in response. The white-headed old man says, “What power are you talking about, son?” For as long as I can remember, I have been a stranger to electricity. Electricity is a very simple thing. If they want, they want to electrify the whole country, but there is no one to work with. I am old, son, yet there’s no power in Kabul.”
In the days when the Taliban seized power, they tried to make people happy by turning on the electricity full-time. But after a while, the number of power outages increased compared to the Republican period. It is now at its worst in 23 years.
Mohammad Azar Azarman
