Afghanistan intends to pay off its electricity debts with neighboring countries by selling property of former government officials who left the country. This was stated by the acting director of production of the energy corporation DABS Safiullah Ahmadzai. He is quoted by the TOLO News TV channel.
It is also planned to sell the property of local residents who did not pay their electricity bills, in some cases for years, the channel said.
According to Ahmadzai, Afghanistan owes four neighboring states $ 62 million for the supply of electricity. The procedure for selling the property of ex-officials must be approved by the government appointed by the Taliban (a terrorist organization banned in Russia), after which the corporation will be able to start selling.
“There should be a policy that will allow these people to get their bills paid. Based on it, we can sell their property or find alternative options, ”Ahmadzai said.
TOLO News also quotes former DABS director Amanullah Ghalib. He stressed that this method will allow the corporation to solve the problem in the short term, but to solve it in the long term, it will have to look for other ways.
The TV channel previously reported that Afghanistan owed electricity to Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Iran. DABS sent letters to these countries asking them not to turn off the power and promising to pay the debts.
Afghanistan has been under Taliban control since August. President Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan after the Taliban came close to the capital Kabul. One former government official said that the national security adviser and chief of staff had gone with him. Ghani later explained that he left the country in order to prevent bloodshed, as, according to him, the Taliban “made it clear that they are ready to carry out a bloody attack on all of Kabul and its inhabitants in order to expel” him.
In September, the Taliban appointed a new government headed by Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, previously considered the head of the Taliban leaders' council that led the group during the war against the government army.
