Taliban's Energy Minister Discusses 'Handover' of Arghandi Substation With Indian Company

Abdul Latif Mansur, the Taliban's Minister of Energy and Water, held talks with the head of an Indian company regarding the handover of the 500 kV Arghandi substation.

Previously, the Taliban had announced that a private company would invest in completing this substation.

In July, Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, inaugurated the remaining work on the Arghandi substation in Kabul, with an estimated value of over $8 million.

The Taliban's Ministry of Public Works had stated that the Arghandi substation project would be completed with private investment from the Awfi-Bahram Trading Company. This project, designed to transfer electricity from Turkmenistan through the Khwaja Alwan Desert in Baghlan to the Arghandi area of Kabul, is expected to take two years.

During the inauguration ceremony, Mansur mentioned that the completion of this project, along with other related projects with a total value of $183 million, would provide approximately 1,000 megawatts of electricity from Turkmenistan, addressing a significant portion of the country's power shortage.

The Taliban has provided some information about the role of the Indian company "Goodrich Logistics" in the Arghandi power project. The Ministry of Energy and Water stated that in the meeting, Abdul Latif Mansur directed ministry officials to prepare for the "handover and transfer of transformers for the substation”.

It appears that India, a former ally of the previous Afghan government and an adversary of Pakistan, is now positioning itself to collaborate with the Taliban on infrastructure projects following Central Asia's lead.