Kabul Mayor Keeps City Running After Taliban Takeover

WASHINGTON - Mohammad Daoud Sultanzoy is the mayor of Kabul, Afghanistan's sprawling capital city. And while the Taliban have kept him in office, he has a word of caution for the militant group.

Sultanzoy said in a Monday interview with VOA's Afghanistan Service: "If the Taliban don't pay heed to people's aspirations, they, too, will be seen" as one of the groups that promoted religious, ethnic and regional interests. "And their reputation will be damaged." A prominent politician with no ties to the Taliban, Sultanzoy was among a handful of senior officials who were allowed to keep their jobs after Taliban took charge in Kabul on August 15, capping their swift takeover of the country. Most other leaders quit or fled the country. Sultanzoy said the Taliban had called him the day after entering the capital, a city of nearly 5 million residents, and asked him to continue to do his job.