Khalid Payenda

Thanks for following along this evening and thank you, @KhalidPayenda, for sharing your personal and frank testimony!

29. Hellman closes the event by thanking @KhalidPayenda for joining SFS at such a critical moment for Afghanistan and the world. "We look forward to seeing what you do next," he tells Payenda.

28. In response to a final audience question about his own future prospects, Payenda rules out working with the Taliban government as it stands now. "They think women are inferior. I learned so many things from my brilliant female colleagues. "

24. Payenda is also taking questions posted on the event livestream. One Facebook user asks how the Taliban is raising revenue. The minister says customs checkpoints and opium and poppy trafficking are the group's primary sources of income.

23. He replies that the world community must leverage humanitarian and financial assistance to put pressure on the Taliban to form a coalition government. "Right now, there's a power vacuum," he says.

21. “Unfortunately, I think the U.S. has done a lot of damage to its reputation," he stresses. "[But] I believe it has some leverage on [Afghanistan's] neighbors, and particularly on Pakistan, to ensure this coalition government."

19. Hellman asks what Payenda's advice to the U.S. on its next steps in engaging with Afghanistan. “I think should give limited access to reserves in return for some commitments [from the Taliban], with forming a conclusive coalition govt being the priority," Payenda responds.

18. He elaborates by pointing to the Taliban's rhetoric on allowing women to fill civil service positions, but simultaneously requiring women to stay at home unless accompanied my a male relative. “What they say and they do, I'm not sure it's the same,” he concludes.

17. Hellman asks if the Taliban are looking to stabilize the economy. "[The Taliban] has reached out to me and my staff," says Payenda. "What they have said so far and what has been practice is two completely different things.”

15. “No one is going to have the depth of that [U.S.] purse," responds Payenda. "Pakistan wanted this — they wanted a failed state where India could not have any influence. Iran wanted the U.S. to withdraw.”