Former Afghanistan Finance Minister Khalid Payenda, who had stepped down from Kabul’s Ministry of Finance a week before the takeover of the Taliban, is now working as a Uber driver in the US. He had resigned from the post after discords with Prime Minister Ashraf Ghani. Soon after, he fled Afghanistan and started living with his family in the US. To earn a living now, he has joined Uber as a driver. Speaking to The Washinton Post, he stated that he manages to earn a wee bit more than 150 dollars for a work of six hours, excluding his own journey expenses. Apart from being a cab driver, he is also a teacher at Georgetown University. By teaching, he earns nearly $2,000 per semester.
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Khalid Payenda Had Resigned From His Position Of Finance Minister In August 2021
On August 10, 2021, Payenda had shared a tweet announcing his decision to resign from the position of Finance Miniter in Afghanistan. In the post, he had also stated that serving as the Acting Finance Minister was the ‘greatest honour’ of his life.
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. I’ve put Mr. Alem Shah Ibrahimi, Deputy Minister for Revenue & Customs in charge until a new Minister is appointed.
— Khalid Payenda (@KhalidPayenda) August 10, 2021
Earlier, he had served as the Deputy Minister of Finance too in Kabul from July 2017 to December 2018. He also worked as a Finacial advisor in many big organisations.
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Payenda Had Left Afghanistan Earlier Too During Civil War
Payenda had to leave Afghanistan earlier also with family, during the 1992 civil war. Back then, he was only 11 years old. 10 years later, he had returned to the country to continue his education. Earlier, we had also come across the news of Former Afghanistan Minister of Communication and Technology, Syed Ahmad Sadat working as a pizza delivery boy in Germany.