Afghanistan Times
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AT Monitoring Desk
KABUL: Fierce clashes between Afghan security forces and Taliban insurgents in Kajaki area resulted in energy blackout in southern Kandahar and Helmand provinces.
According to locals and chief commercial officer of the Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), state-owned electricity supplying company, the clashes has halted nearly 90 percent supply of electricity from the Kajaki power plant in Helmand province.
Reuters quoted the DABS’s chief commercial officer Mirwais Alami as saying, “I don’t think it is sabotage. Otherwise they would be cutting off electricity to their own villages. The lines could have been cut by government bullets.”
He said the intense fighting between the insurgents and security forces made it difficult for the company’s teams to repair the electricity transmission lines.
Alami said it was difficult to give a timeframe for restoration of electricity to the areas facing power blackout.
This February, the Afghan security forces have launched multiple operations in the restive southern provinces to make the areas clear of insurgents and quell potential and existing security threats.
Despite presence of the foreign forces, security situation has been far from improvement in Kandahar and Helmand. Foreign troops withdrew from Helmand last year while the US forces still occupy a military base in Kandahar.
Opium production in the two provinces scaled new heights despite presence of the British and US troops. Many local analysts accused the Central Intelligence Agency of using opiates to fund rebel movements across the globe, especially in Syria against Basharul Asad’s regime.
