KABUL - Capital Kabul is home to more than five million people yet the city has no mayor.
It has been over a year since the National Unity Government (NUG) was established - but until now the leaders have yet to appoint a mayor.
Analysts say the lack of a city leader has led to numerous problems including the ever growing piles of garbage on the city's streets. They say no attention is paid to the cleanliness of the city and that complaining does not help as officials fail to take responsibility.
The head of Kabul municipality's media office said that at the moment the city has no mayor and no technical deputy of construction and urban services - therefore Kabul city faces irregularities.
Head of the media office, Abdul Qadir Arezo, said: "It is almost one year that technical and construction deputy and also the caretaker's working period ended ... they retired. At the moment the mayor's post and the two deputy posts are empty and we are waiting for them to be filled."
But residents are becoming more and more frustrated over the lack of service delivery in the capital. In addition to the ongoing garbage problems, road maintenance is also not being carried out resulting in the ongoing deterioration of streets in the city.
But one municipal employee Waliullah said they are trying their best. "We have cleaned the river and taken out mud and garbage but the government must collect this and remove it."
"Now the municipality must come and collect this garbage and remove it," said one of the residents.
Meanwhile Presidential Administration Affairs accepts the challenges and difficulties faced in the capital.
"The government is committed to selecting a mayor but due to the diversification of the population there should be several mayors and this is one of the reasons that the selection of the mayor has been delayed. There should be several mayors and those mayors should be in contact with the presidential palace," said Meya Gul Wasiq, head of the Social-Political Department of Presidential Administration Affairs.
Experts meanwhile said that the lack of a mayor has caused many problems including the stoppage of construction projects in the capital, the lack of garbage removal, the lack of road maintenance, and the construction of non-standardized and illegal buildings among others. (Tolonews)