A powerful overnight earthquake in northern Afghanistan disrupted power to at least nine provinces, including the capital, Kabul, after transmission lines carrying imported electricity from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan were damaged, the country’s power company said Monday.
Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), the state-run electricity utility, reported that two key supply lines from Uzbekistan were severed — one between Naibabad and Samangan Province, and another between Khulm district and the city of Pul-e-Khumri, the capital of Baghlan Province.
As a result, major population centers — including Kabul, Baghlan, Parwan, Panjshir, Kapisa, Logar, Paktia, Ghazni and Maidan Wardak — have been left without power, the company said in a statement.
In addition, a separate transmission line from Tajikistan to Kunduz Province was also damaged, disrupting service to areas dependent on Tajik electricity, according to the statement.
DABS said its technical teams have been deployed to the affected regions and are working to restore the electricity supply, but did not provide a timeline for full recovery.
Afghanistan imports more than 70 percent of its electricity from neighboring countries, particularly Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Iran, due to its underdeveloped domestic generation capacity. Even under normal conditions, large parts of the country experience regular power shortages.
The earthquake — which struck Samangan Province early Monday with a reported magnitude of 6.3 — also caused widespread structural damage and killed at least 20 people, according to Taliban officials. The tremors were felt across several northern provinces and in Kabul.
International aid agencies have warned that repeated natural disasters — combined with limited infrastructure, fuel shortages, and political isolation — have severely weakened Afghanistan’s capacity to respond to crises.
