Afghan Mafia

Sorry, no pictures today, just stories.

After working with the Afghanis now for nearly 6 months, we've started to notice a pattern of behavior or lack of ethics. They have many similarities to the mafia, or least what I know of it from the movies and TV. We've seen several examples -

First, is the gravel trade. The base enters into contracts to purchase gravel from the quaries/suppliers and we get pretty good prices. But, we've figured out that the price isn't what it appears. The supplier can offer the gravel at these prices because he will do whatever he can to short you on the order. We counter that be having one of our local national engineers do the quality control and estimate how much has been delivered. However, we have suspicions that he may be on the take. Then, once the gravel is on base our contractor that is supposed to haul and place the gravel around the base, has been found to be selling the gravel to contractors. And, when we call him on it (after the contractors complain), he sees nothing wrong with it, but gives the money back with a smile on his face. We probably are not catching him every time, it's a game to them. So, we pay for the gravel, pay a contractor to haul it, and he charges contractors on base for what we tell him to deliver to them.

Second, the paving contractor leases two vehicles to transport his laborers to the base every day. He leases one of these vehicles from the Khost Provincial Forces (KPF or Afghan Army) commander, who lives on the base. The paver told me yesterday that he is paying $800 a month for this service and part of the reason is the extra protection he receives from the KPF since they are using the commander's vehicle. So, in a sense, they do have insurance in this country, you just have to know who to buy it from.

Third, there were some old generators on the base that were no longer in working order and beyond repair, so we cleared it for the heavy equipment contractor (the same one that sells the gravel) to remove them from the base. It was cheaper than shipping them back to the states for disposal as excess. The contractor came to us and said the KPF commander put the squeeze on him the other day about these generators, saying they were his. We think he was looking for his cut.

Anyway, we only have suspicions, no proof, and pretty good imaginations, but it does seem to be a little bit on the shady side of business. What else would we expect in a lawless country like this, everyone is just trying to make a decent living and stay alive. And, the US is certainly doing it's best to help keep them actively employeed, which is good, if they are working, they are not trying to kill us.

On a brighter note, we are now in the single digits and getting shorter by the hour now. At least for our departure date, arrival at home is several days after that. We can see the end and it's looking better all the time.