Can’t throw away accountability: Ex-mayor of Kabul continues to run metropolis beneath Taliban

A month has handed for the reason that Taliban took over Kabul on August 15 following a lightning navy marketing campaign. Nearly all members of the erstwhile US-backed authorities have both left the nation or relinquished their posts in concern of the militants. However, Daoud Sultanzoy, the 66-year-old ex-mayor of Kabul, continues to return to his workplace.

Daoud Sultanzoy, a former US citizen, now shares his workplace with Hamidullah Nomani, the Taliban’s new caretaker administrator of Kabul. Nomani served because the Afghan capital’s mayor and a cabinet minister within the first Taliban regime.In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Sultanzoy stated whereas he isn’t concerned within the politics of the Taliban, he has determined to stay to his job as he feels “responsible to the people of Kabul”.“This is a responsibility that you cannot throw away frivolously because you just say, ‘Oh, I don’t like these people’,” the Wall Street Journal quoted him as saying.A day after the fall of Kabul, the Taliban contacted Sultanzoy to continue with his post and guaranteed his security. His return to office ensured that some vital municipal services, such as trash collection and sanitation, remained uninterrupted amid the chaos of transition.A US citizen who returned to AfghanistanSultanzoy first came to America in the 1970s to study aviation at the University of Miami. After the US invasion of Afghanistan post 9/11 attacks, Sultanzoy returned to Afghanistan to represent his family’s region, now part of the southeastern Ghazni province, in the new Afghan parliament.In 2014, Sultanzoy unsuccessfully contested the presidential elections and had to give up his US passport for it. His wife and children continue to remain American citizens and support his decision to stay in Kabul.Read | Taliban appoint deputy ministers in all-men Afghanistan government“Relinquished, not renounced,” Sultanzoy stated about his citizenship. “America has been good to me, and I don’t renounce anything.”Sultanzoy was appointed as Kabul mayor in 2020 by then president Ashraf Ghani.’Not serving to Taliban’Asked whether or not his persevering with service helped legitimise the Taliban rule, Sultanzoy denied. “I am not helping. I was assigned to serve this city, and I am still serving this city,” he informed the Wall Street Journal.He additionally stated that the Taliban are extra tolerant now. “I am not saying I’ve met everybody, I am sure there are other elements. But the ones I have met are very polite, very understanding,” he stated.Hamidullah Nomani, the brand new caretaker administrator of Kabul, agreed that the Taliban want the abilities of execs like Sultanzoy to run the nation.Also Read | Will return and help Taliban-led Afghanistan govt if…: Former Afghan minister“Anyone who has served honestly and has a good record, and that includes the mayor, the deputy mayor and other directors, they are all our friends, we have not brought any change to these positions,” the Wall Steet Journal quoted him as saying.“Our arrival here wasn’t aiming to stop the work under way. As long as the work proceeds smoothly, we will work together and maintain this friendship,” he added.Cash crunchThe new Taliban authorities faces a extreme money crunch state of affairs. Last month, the US and allies froze round $9 billion in Afghanistan’s central-bank reserves and suspended entry to worldwide lenders.The state of affairs was already unhealthy beneath the Ashraf Ghani-led authorities as nobody, together with Sultanzoy, has obtained a wage for the previous three months.Sultanzoy stated he had deliberate an inventory of infrastructure initiatives for Kabul which now face uncertainty.“None of these plans are going ahead now because we are in the phase where we have to revisit everything and see what the new political leadership does,” Sultanzoy informed the Wall Street Journal.(Inputs from Wall Street Journal)Also Read | SAARC overseas ministers’ meet cancelled after Pakistan insists on Taliban participation