Electricity to be restored to Kabul soon: Official

Afghan officials say electricity will soon be restored in the country’s capital, Kabul, weeks after power was interrupted as a result of clashes between militants.

According to the reports, Wahidullah Tawhidi, spokesman for the Afghanistan electricity directorate, said on Saturday electricity was expected to be restored in about five days.

Taliban-linked militants reportedly destroyed cables from Uzbekistan, which provided electricity to Kabul from the northern province of Baghlan.

Kabul has been without power off and on since late January, when cables were ruined during an operation by army forces to clear the area of militants.

“We hope that power will soon be reconnected to Kabul,” said governor of Baghlan, Abul Satar Barez.

He added that militants had been wiped from the Dand-e-Shahabuddin district, where the cables had been destroyed.

Kabul’s five-million population has been left with limited heat during the cold season.

In a separate development, Afghan forces fighting Taliban militants were ordered to pull out of Roshan Tower and other checkpoints in the southern province of Helmand’s strategic district of Musa Qala.

According to officials, the soldiers were ordered to withdraw from the area in order to reinforce Gereshk, which is an area straddling the main highway which links Kabul with the country’s south and west.

SS