Afghanistan's last finance minister Khalid Payenda now an Uber driver in the US
Khalid Payenda, who once led a $6 billion budget in Afghanistan, fled the country as the government was on the point of collapse.
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FollowFormer Afghanistan finance minister before the Taliban took over the country is now driving an Uber in Washington to support his family. Khalid Payenda, who once led a $6 billion budget in Afghanistan, fled the country as the government was on the point of collapse.
The Washington Post reported that the father of four had joined the gig economy; Payenda said it had made a huge difference in his life and is incredibly grateful for it. He added that it eliminates the need for him to be desperate.
At Georgetown University, Payenda co-teaches a course and occasionally speaks at think-tanks. He explained, "Right now, I don't have any place. I don't belong here, and I don't belong there; it's an empty feeling."
While talking to Washington Post, Payenda said that the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan had haunted him. He holds the Americans responsible, citing the mission to promote democracy and human rights in the region as one of their goals.
Payenda added that there might be good intentions; however, the United States probably didn't mean this. After two decades of conflict, the United States withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021.
Months before the Taliban seized control over Afghanistan, former President Donald Trump's government signed a conditional peace deal with the militant group in February 2020, vowing to pull out the US troops over 14 months. The agreement notably did not include the Aghan government.
Senior U.S. officials have mostly moved on from the Afghanistan war, which started 20 years earlier with high-minded promises of democracy, human rights and women's rights and concluded with an American president accusing Afghans, such as a Payenda, for the mess that was left behind.
As Payenda's relationship with Ghani deteriorated, he resigned as the finance minister a week before the Taliban captured Kabul. Fearing that the president might detain him, he fled to the United States, reuniting with his family.
In a text message to a World Bank official in Kabul on the day the capital fell, Payenda stated, quoted by the post, that they had 20 years and the whole world's support to build a system that would work for the people.
Payenda said that all they created was a house of cards that came falling so quickly. The foundation of a house of cards is corruption, he added.
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