Days earlier than Afghanistan fell to the Taliban final August, Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan president, was “welcomed” to the United Arab Emirates. He was alleged to have taken with him $169m, from his nation’s treasury.
Six months on, Khalid Payenda, as soon as Ghani’s finance minister, is driving an Uber in Washington DC.
“If I full 50 journeys within the subsequent two days, I obtain a $95 bonus,” Payenda informed the Washington Submit, from behind the wheel of a Honda Accord.
The 40-year-old as soon as oversaw a US-supported $6bn funds. The Submit reported that in a single evening earlier this week, he made “somewhat over $150 for six hours’ work, not counting his commute – a mediocre evening”.
The Submit recorded Payenda telling one passenger his transfer from Kabul to Washington had been “fairly an adjustment”.
He additionally mentioned he was grateful for the chance to have the ability to assist his household however, “Proper now, I don’t have anyplace. I don’t belong right here and I don’t belong there. It’s a really empty feeling.”
Afghanistan faces a humanitarian and financial disaster, belongings frozen and lower off from worldwide assist that might require recognition of the Taliban authorities which changed the US-supported regime.
The Submit described Payenda’s expertise in late 2020, when his mom died of Covid-19 in an impoverished Kabul hospital. He grew to become finance minister after that. The Submit mentioned he now wished he had not.
“I noticed a whole lot of ugliness, and we failed,” he mentioned. “I used to be a part of the failure. It’s troublesome once you have a look at the distress of the folks and you are feeling accountable.”
Payenda informed the Submit he believed Afghans “didn’t have the collective will to reform, to be severe”. However he additionally mentioned the US betrayed its dedication to democracy and human rights after making Afghanistan a centerpiece of post-9/11 coverage.
“Possibly there have been good intentions initially however the US most likely didn’t imply this,” Payenda mentioned.
Payenda resigned as finance minister every week earlier than the Taliban seized Kabul, as his relationship with Ghani deteriorated. Fearing the president would have him arrested, he left for the US, the place he joined his household.
“We had 20 years and the entire world’s assist to construct a system that might work for the folks,” Payenda mentioned in a textual content message to a World Financial institution official in Kabul on the day the capital fell, quoted by the Submit.
“All we constructed was a home of playing cards that got here down crashing this quick. A home of playing cards constructed on the inspiration of corruption.”