He had a budget of $6 billion

Former Finance Minister of Afghanistan works as a taxi driver in the United States

Binda during his work as a taxi driver.

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Six months after the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, the former Afghan Finance Minister, Khaled Payand, started his job as a taxi driver in Washington, DC.

"If I do 50 rides in the next two days, I'll get a $95 bonus," Bainda said, sitting behind the wheel of his Honda Accord.

The 40-year-old, who previously oversaw his country's $6 billion budget, says he is grateful for the opportunity to be able to provide for his family. I don't belong there, and I feel so empty."

The "Washington Post" newspaper reported on Binda's experience in late 2020, when his mother died as a result of the "Corona" epidemic in a destitute hospital in Kabul.

He became Minister of Finance after that.

He wishes he had not received that job, and says: "I saw many ugly scenes, and we failed, and I was part of this failure, and it is difficult to witness the misery of people, and I feel responsible for that."

He also says he believes the Afghan people "did not have the collective will to reform in earnest," but said that the United States betrayed its commitments to democracy and human rights by making Afghanistan the center of its policy in the aftermath of 9/11.

"Maybe there was some good intentions in the beginning, but the United States may not have been serious," he added.

Binda submitted his resignation as finance minister a week before the Taliban's takeover of Kabul, after his relationship with former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani deteriorated.

He was afraid that the president would arrest him, so he left for the United States, where he joined his family.

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