Afghanistan as an emerging regional energy hub

Abstract

The enormous potential supply of energy in central Asia offers an excellent opportunity to establish international energy-sharing agreements, mitigate political instability, and improve regional socio-economic development. Pakistan and India have increasingly relied on energy imported from Middle and Central Asia to meet frequent energy shortages. Afghanistan has played a central role in recent efforts to balance energy trade among regional countries with an emerging opportunity as an emerging energy hub. This study considers what energy trade policies and strategies are needed to transform Afghanistan from energy consumer to energy provider. This analysis summarizes multi-disciplinary approaches that target geopolitics, economic, trade, management, institutional, environmental, and technical aspects. This study avoided a commentary description of the subject. The overriding objective of this study is addressing key solutions to enable Afghanistan as a leading stakeholder of the energy hub in the region countries. The finding of this study is outlined in 30 recommendations. Beneficiaries and stakeholders also express increasing concern about Afghanistan’s current security and political stability. This brief study can inform students, researchers, scholars, and interested policymakers with the recent trends and future outlook.