Afghanistan’s Last Finance Minister Khalid Payenda Now Drives Uber in Washington DC
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Khalid Payenda who once oversaw and presented a 6 billion dollar budget as Afghanistan’s Finance Minister in Kabul is now an Uber driver in Washington DC to support his family. He said he earns “a little over 150 dollars for six hours’ work, not counting his commute”.Afghanistan is currently facing a financial and humanitarian crisis, with many countries around the world hesitant to recognize the Taliban government that overthrew the US backed regime. Payenda had resigned as the Finance Minister of the country a week before the Taliban took control of the capital city due to straining relations with Prime Minister Ashraf Ghani. He tweeted back on August 10 saying “Today I stepped down as the Acting Minister of Finance. Leading MoF was the greatest honor of my life but it was time to step down to attend to personal priorities.” He left Afghanistan due to his fear of being arrested by the government and joined his family in the United States of America.
