After a career with international non-governmental organizations including the United Nations Development Program in Geneva, Daudzai started work as two term Chief of Staff of Afghan President Hamid Karzai from 2003 to 2005 and then from 2007 to around 2010.

In September 2013, Daudzai was asked to serve as Afghan Minister of Interior in Kabul and ensure security for the challenging 2014 presidential elections.

During the Taliban era Daudzai decided to settle in Peshawar, Pakistan, and began working for the organization Save the Children.

At that time, the key challenge was establishing the Afghan state amidst an environment full of traditional power holders and illegal militias.

Commenting on how only few militias have disarmed, he said: "Any force not part of the Afghan National Army is a challenge, but this is reality, so we ought to deal with it diplomatically and peacefully.

[8] The Atlantic profiled him as:[9] "A soft-spoken former aid worker, Daudzai served as the president’s liaison to the many warlords and strongmen he had to keep in check—both to ensure stability and to secure his reelection in 2009.

To express his displeasure with the Americans, who tried to oust him during his 2009 reelection campaign, Karzai replaced Daudzai as chief of staff with Abdul Karim Khurram, a conservative former culture minister with an anti-American reputation."

He also claimed that Iranian money had been coming to Afghanistan since 2002 but the issue was brought out only now in order to pressure the Karzai government for political reasons[11][12][13] and that since 2002 also the US, the UK and Japan had provided the presidential office with cash assistance.

[15] According to wikileaks cables Daudzai told deputy US ambassador Francis Ricciardone already in February 2010 that certain Afghan officials were on Tehran's payroll, including some people nominated for cabinet positions.