In August last year, just days before the Taliban took over Afghanistan, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was "welcomed" in the United Arab Emirates. He was accused of taking 16 169 million from his country's treasury.
According to the American newspaper The Washington Post, Khalid Payenda, who was once the finance minister in Ashraf Ghani's government, is running Uber in Washington DC.
"If I complete 50 trips in the next two days, I'll get a 95 95 bonus," he told the Washington Post.
Khalid Payenda, 40, oversaw a 6 billion US-funded budget. According to the Washington Post, he earned just over 150 150 a night for a six-hour job earlier this week.
He said he was grateful for the opportunity to support his family, but added: "I have no place yet. I'm not from here and I'm not from there. It's a very empty feeling. "
Afghanistan is facing a humanitarian and economic crisis, with assets frozen and international aid cut off.
The Washington Post reports that Payenda's mother died of corona virus at a hospital in Kabul in late 2020, after which she became finance minister.
"I saw a lot of ugliness and we failed," Payenda said. "I was part of the failure. It's hard when you see people's suffering and you feel responsible.
He told the Washington Post that he believed there was no collective will on the part of Afghans to "reform, to be serious". He turned away from the promises made regarding rights.
A week before the Taliban took control of Kabul, Payenda resigned as finance minister because of strained relations with Ashraf Ghani.
Khalid Payenda fled to the United States for fear that the president would arrest him.
"We had 20 years and we had the support of the whole world to build a system that works for the good of the people," Payenda told a World Bank official in Kabul on the day of the Taliban's occupation of Afghanistan. What we built was a house of cards that collapsed so fast. A house built on corruption.
