As the Taliban swept through Afghanistan in August 2021, many of the former government’s top officials, including then-President Ashraf Ghani, fled the country, causing chaos and uncertainty among Afghans.

But not everyone in the government had the opportunity or the will to leave Kabul.

Ghani’s deputy minister of finance, Nazir Kabiri, stayed home. The US-educated technocrat anticipated the financial challenges such a political change could bring to Afghanistan.

The Taliban kept Kabiri at his post. But will he succeed in his efforts to prevent a complete economic collapse?

Nazir Kabiri, Afghanistan’s deputy finance minister, talks to Al Jazeera.