A month has passed since the Taliban took over Kabul on August 15 following a lightning military campaign. Nearly all members of the erstwhile US-backed government have either left the country or relinquished their posts in fear of the militants. However, Daoud Sultanzoy, the 66-year-old ex-mayor of Kabul, continues to return to his office.

Daoud Sultanzoy, a former US citizen, now shares his office with Hamidullah Nomani, the Taliban’s new caretaker administrator of Kabul. Nomani served as the Afghan capital’s mayor and a cabinet minister in the first Taliban regime.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Sultanzoy said while he is not involved in the politics of the Taliban, he has decided to stick 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 Afghanistan

Sultanzoy 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.

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“Relinquished, not renounced,” Sultanzoy said 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 helping Taliban’

Asked whether his continuing 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 told the Wall Street Journal.

He also said that the Taliban are more 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 said.

Hamidullah Nomani, the new caretaker administrator of Kabul, agreed that the Taliban need the skills of professionals like Sultanzoy to run the country.

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“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 crunch

The new Taliban government faces a severe cash crunch situation. Last month, the US and allies froze around $9 billion in Afghanistan’s central-bank reserves and suspended access to international lenders.

The situation was already bad under the Ashraf Ghani-led government as no one, including Sultanzoy, has received a salary for the past three months.

Sultanzoy said he had planned a list of infrastructure projects 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 told the Wall Street Journal.

(Inputs from Wall Street Journal)

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