To: maceng2 who wrote (176104 ) 8/11/2021 4:00:22 AM From: TobagoJack Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 217662 Looking at Afghanistan, get the general feeling that the end of an era is about to be, and phase-change coming up, which might entail quite a bit of bad happenings to cap the goings-on for the past 20+ years Khalid bugging out might turn out to be a prescient move bloomberg.com Afghan Finance Minister Quits, Leaves Country as Taliban Advance Eltaf Najafizada 11 August 2021, 15:34 GMT+8 Afghanistan’s acting finance minister Khalid Payenda has resigned and left the country after the Taliban captured key customs posts bleeding the administration of revenue, reinforcing the government’s isolation as the militants make swift gains. Payenda has “resigned and left the country because Afghanistan is grappling with declining revenues after the takeover of the custom posts,” Finance Ministry spokesman Mohammad Rafi Tabe said in a phone interview Wednesday. “The deteriorating security situation” and traveling to be with his ailing wife abroad, were the other reasons Tabe gave. It wasn’t immediately clear where Payenda was going to. Afghan Leader Sees Peace Talks as Dead, Braces for Civil War The former minister tweeted Tuesday to say he was quitting his post but gave no reasons for it. The deputy minister for customs and revenues, Alem Shah Ibrahimi, will be in charge until a new appointment is announced. Payenda wasn’t immediately available for comment. With U.S. and NATO troops slated for a complete exit by Aug. 31, a resurgent Taliban have overrun several provincial capitals in recent days. The militants have also seized several crucial custom posts causing President Ashraf Ghani’s government to lose as much as $30 million in import duties last month alone. The taxes account for about half of Afghanistan’s total domestic revenues, estimated to be about 216.5 billion Afghanis this year. Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. LEARN MORE