Nativescript 8.6 build error while building for Android

Issue Description

After upgrading my project from 6.x to 8.x I can no longer build for Android. I get the following error:

Build file '/Users/user/Documents/project/platforms/android/app/build.gradle' line: 589
A problem occurred configuring project ':app'.
entry

Command ./gradlew failed with exit code 1

the offending line is this:

// Discover all jars and dynamically create tasks for the extraction of each of them
project.ext.allJars = []
allprojects {
    afterEvaluate { project ->
        def buildType = project.selectedBuildType
        def jars = []
        def artifactType = Attribute.of('artifactType', String)
        android.applicationVariants.all { variant ->
            if (variant.buildType.name == buildType) {
                variant.getCompileClasspath().each { fileDependency ->  // THIS IS IT
                    processJar(fileDependency, jars)
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Here is my package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "prepare-ios": "ns clean; ns prepare ios --release",
    "postinstall": "cp patches/firebase/firebase-release.aar node_modules/@nativescript/firebase/platforms/android"
  },
  "main": "./app/app.ts",
  "description": "NativeScript Application",
  "license": "SEE LICENSE IN <your-license-filename>",
  "repository": "<fill-your-repository-here>",
  "dependencies": {
    "@nativescript/core": "^8.6.2",
    "@nativescript/email": "^2.0.5",
    "@nativescript/fingerprint-auth": "^8.1.0",
    "@nativescript/firebase": "^11.1.3",
    "@nativescript/iqkeyboardmanager": "^2.0.0",
    "@nativescript/local-notifications": "^6.0.0",
    "@nativescript/theme": "^3.0.2",
    "@nstudio/nativescript-loading-indicator": "^4.1.2",
    "@triniwiz/nativescript-image-zoom": "^4.1.3",
    "moment": "^2.29.4",
    "moment-timezone": "^0.5.31",
    "nativescript-exit": "^1.0.1",
    "nativescript-numeric-keyboard": "^5.0.2",
    "nativescript-pdf-view": "^3.0.0-1",
    "nativescript-phone": "^3.0.3",
    "nativescript-ui-calendar": "^14.2.1",
    "nativescript-webview-utils": "^4.0.0"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@nativescript/android": "8.6.2",
    "@nativescript/ios": "^8.6.3",
    "@nativescript/types": "~8.6.1",
    "@nativescript/webpack": "~5.0.18",
    "@types/node": "^20.11.16",
    "typescript": "~5.3.2"
  },
  "gitHead": "",
  "readme": "NativeScript Application"
}

Here is the output from ns doctor:

✔ Getting environment information 

No issues were detected.
✔ Your ANDROID_HOME environment variable is set and points to correct directory.
✔ Your adb from the Android SDK is correctly installed.
✔ The Android SDK is installed.
✔ A compatible Android SDK for compilation is found.
✔ Javac is installed and is configured properly.
✔ The Java Development Kit (JDK) is installed and is configured properly.
✔ Xcode is installed and is configured properly.
✔ xcodeproj is installed and is configured properly.
✔ CocoaPods are installed.
✔ CocoaPods update is not required.
✔ CocoaPods are configured properly.
✔ Your current CocoaPods version is newer than 1.0.0.
✔ Python installed and configured correctly.
✔ The Python 'six' package is found.
✔ Xcode version 15.2.0 satisfies minimum required version 10.
✔ Getting NativeScript components versions information...
✔ Component nativescript has 8.6.5 version and is up to date.
✔ Component @nativescript/core has 8.6.2 version and is up to date.
✔ Component @nativescript/ios has 8.6.3 version and is up to date.
✔ Component @nativescript/android has 8.6.2 version and is up to date.

I have been stuck on this for 2 days. Tried cleaning the project, playing around with different adnroid build tool versions, etc. Nothing had worked so far.

Any ideas on what is going on?

Reproduction

No response

Relevant log output (if applicable)

No response

Environment

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Please accept these terms

• I have searched the existing issues as well as StackOverflow and this has not been posted before
• This is a bug report
• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

Start with the generated platforms/android/app/build.gradle around line 589 and the @nativescript/android 8.6.2 dependency in package.json. Reproduce the clean Android build using the listed versions, then identify the responsible build configuration or dependency and verify the build succeeds after the fix.