Absolutely true....
In 2007 the company I was working for wanted to start providing security services to a variety of USG customers.. to do that in Afghanistan we needed to obtain an Afghan Security License in addition to a different type of business license than we already had in country (we were largely involved in EOD, UXO, and mine clearing up until that point and were only providing "security" for ourselves.. once we wanted to start "selling" security services it required a different license)..
The problem was Afghanistan wasnt willing to provide any new licenses in country at that time... there were already several US firms licensed there (DynCorp, Triple Canopy, SOC, Blackwater, etc..etc..) and there were also several Afghan owned (US operated) firms licensed and operating there as well.. and the govt of Afghanistan didnt want to bring in any new competition... they essentially wanted the US Govt to be limited to just the few US firms already established, or to using Afghan firms...
My solution was to get a list of all of the licensed companies in country, and then buy one of them... I thought for sure there was some warlord in some province somewhere that would be willing to sell his license for a decent sized chunk of change plus an agreement to hire all of his people (tribesmen) at "US" wages, which would make him a local hero, etc..etc..
Once I got the list and figured out who all owned companies, etc.. I took a very different direction...
I found a German guy that had been living in Afghanistan since the late 1970's.. that had gotten a license during the 1990's with the intent of running a security business in Kabul.. but never really did much with it...
If you spent any time in Kabul, you might know about a certain German meat market/butcher that owned a couple of shops in the city that was known for having particular wonderful beef and goat that many of the restaurants bought from.. and several of the SOF teams in the area would swing by and buy a goat or a lamb from for cook outs, etc.. that was the same guy...
He and his extended family had been living in Kabul for decades.. they moved there during the glory days of the early 70's.. and by the time things went to shit, they just stayed and figured out how to make a living through it all.. The Taliban never bothered them.. they werent a threat.. and they provided a valuable service to the community.. so they just stuck around..
By the time we got there they were living like freaking kings.. they had a really nice little family compound outside of town as well as a couple of big villas near Computer Street that they all lived in.. and had more money than they could possibly spend...
He was happy to sell us his security license.. we paid a pretty penny for it.. and he wasnt doing anything with it anyway...
I found there were a number of European families still living around Afghanistan in the 2000's (I'm guessing theyre still there now.. .they were there before we got there.. no reason for them to not continue living there after we were gone)... there were a number of Italians out near Adraskan that we ran into a couple of times.. and some other Germans we ran into once in Helmand..
