As the Taliban government in Afghanistan reportedly sacked the last remaining minister Waheed Majroh of the erstwhile Ashraf Ghani government, 66-year-old Daoud Sultanzoy, the ‘former mayor’ of Kabul, is counting his days within the office. Kabul has already got a replacement administrator, Taliban leader Hamdullah Nomani, but Daoud Sultanzoy remains the mayor because the post has not officially gone to Nomani. Sultanzoy is coming to the office a day and both Sultanzoy and Nomani are sharing the office space. A former US citizen, Daoud Sultanzoy was born in Kabul and fought against the Soviet Union within the early 1980s. A pilot by profession trained within the US, Daoud Sultanzoy returned to Afghanistan after 9/11 to assist the post-Taliban government.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, he shared about his peculiar situation within the Kabul administration. He was contacted each day after Kabul fell on Assumption by the Taliban who assured him of his security and his resumption of labor soon after Kabul fell ensured that municipal works like garbage collection , sanitisation continue uninterrupted. “This may be a responsibility you only “> that you simply cannot throw away frivolously because you just say, ‘Oh, I don’t like these people’”, he said adding that he’s not involved in politics in the least . “I am here because i’m responsible to the people of Kabul, and I’ve decided to stay thereto ,” he told WSJ.
The mayor’s unusual and precarious position exposes the complexities of Afghanistan’s transitional period, also because the Taliban’s attempts to maneuver from a brutal rural insurgency to a government which will manage a rustic of 40 million and run its modern cities like Kabul, home to at least one in eight Afghans,” the Wall Street Journal article commented.
To contest within the 2014 presidential election, Daoud Sultanzoy relinquished his US passport though his wife, crowned Miss Afghanistan in 1972, and his children are within the US. they’re very supportive of the choice that he took, Sultanzoy said.
“I am not helping. i used to be assigned to serve this city, and that i am still serving this city,” he said noting how he perceived a change within the Taliban. “I find them more tolerant. i’m not saying I’ve met everybody, i’m sure there are other elements. But those I even have met are very polite, very understanding,” he said.
Kabul’s new administrator Hamdullah Nomani told WSJ the leadership likes Daoud Sultanzoy and therefore the political issues aren’t being considered. “Anyone who has served honestly and features a good record, which includes the mayor, the deputy mayor and other directors, they’re all our friends, we’ve not brought any change to those positions,” Nomani told.
The Kabul municipality has recently asked its male workers to rejoin duties while the Taliban have asked the feminine workers to remain home. the choice is of the Taliban leadership and Sultanzoy takes care of day-to-day activities. For the last three months, Sultanzoy has not received any salary, first because the Ashraf Ghani government delayed payment and now because the Taliban don’t have funds to pay salaries.
