At its peak in the late 1970s, Afghanistan supplied between 70-90 percent of its natural gas output to the Soviet Union's gas grid via a link through Kushka, Turkmenistan. In 1992, Afghan President Najibullah indicated that a new gas sales agreement with Russia was in progress. However, several former Soviet republics raised price and distribution issues and negotiations stalled. In the early 1990s, Afghanistan also discussed possible supply gas supply arrangements with Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and several Western European countries, but these talks never progressed further. Current Afghan gas production remains around 30 Mmcf/d, all of which is used domestically.

Soviet estimates made in the late 1970s placed Afghanistan's proven and probable oil and condensate reserves at 95 million barrels. Despite plans to start commercial oil production in Afghanistan, all oil exploration and development work as well as plans to build a 10,000 barrel per day refinery were halted after the 1979 Soviet invasion. Afghanistan's various provinces receive refined products from neighboring countries. In August 1996, the Pakistani government agreed to transport an undisclosed amount of oil products to Kabul.