Taliban pocket 290 million afghanis annually from electricity bills

AVA- The Taliban have long tapped into Afghanistan’s drug trade and illegal mining, but they have found new ways of diversifying and collecting revenue in recent years.
 
The militant group earned $400 million from drug economy last year, according to the United Nations. That amounts to half of Taliban income.
 
Amanullah Ghalib, the head of Afghanistan’s state electricity Breshna, said that they are unable to collect bills in insecure areas in five provinces of the country.
 
“Our lines are passing through districts which are not in government control. Our workers cannot go to the sites to read meters, they can’t collect bills from households,” he said.
 
The provinces include Helmand, Kunduz, Sar-i-Pul, Jowzjan and Herat.
 
Breshna head said that the company can’t collect bills for 50 to 70 megawatts of electricity, but he didn’t say how much it is losing to the Taliban.
 
After announcement of a new U.S. strategy on Afghanistan in August, U.S. and Afghan forces launched a major crackdown on drugs with an aim to stop flow of funds from the economy to the Taliban.
 
Najib Danish, a spokesman for Interior Ministry, said that authorities are ready to get special measures in place to prevent electricity bills payment to the Taliban.