Members of the Afghan Craftsmen Association complained of a shortage of power, saying that problem with electricity has caused a reduction in their output.

The shortage of power has affected the domestic industries for years, they said.

“Even in the winter, they provide us just with 10 to 12 hours of power,” said Abdul Baseer Tariq, head of the Afghan Craftsmen Association.

The owners of the factories said that they were forced to stop their activities as they were not provided with necessary power.

Ana Haidari, a manager of one of the factories, said that due to the shortage of the power, they were forced to halt operations.

“We used to be able to cover around 80 percent of our market but now we work only one shift and we can only cover between 40 to 50 percent,” she said.

The Afghanistan Chamber of Industry and Mines (ACIM) said that the industrial parks need more than 1,000 megowatts of power.

“If the plan is extended and other parks are reactivated, the trade process will hopefully increase, then we may need even more than 1,000 megawatts of power,” said Mohammad Karim Azimi, head of the ACIM.

Afghanistan imports more than 80 percent of its electricity from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.