Canadian historian Sean Maloney was at Kandahar Air Field in southern Afghanistan in 2005, researching a book on Afghan reconstruction, when he spotted something strange: a U.S. Navy NP-3D, a P-3 patrol plane modified with special sensors for scientific research. (Pictured.) Maloney dropped in at the support facility where the plane’s operators hung out. A man wearing a U.S. Geological Survey polo shirt greeted him.
“You guys are geologists?” Maloney said, incredulous. He had expected airborne spies.
“Yep. We study rocks here,” the man said.
It was the beginning of a very strange and revealing episode in the long, troubled, reconstruction strategy for Afghanistan — and one of many fascinating anecdotes in Maloney’s excellent book, Confronting the Chaos, just out from U.S. Naval Institute Press. Confronting the Chaos “skillfully chronicles the activities of the provincial reconstruction teams and embedded training teams which will make or break the U.S. efforts in Afghanistan,” wrote Wesley Gray, the author of his own excellent book on training teams in Iraq, called Embedded.
Turns out the Geological Survey and the Navy had been asked by the Afghan government to figure out if there were any undiscovered, valuable minerals in the country: coal, iron, gas, even oil — anything that might help Kabul fund badly-needed rebuilding. The Navy plane used “hyper-spectral” cameras and radars to chart mineral deposits, while an Air Force WB-57 — a modified, Vietnam-era bomber — scanned with an infrared sensor. USAID funded the work.
Why not use civilian planes? Because only military research planes have defenses against any surface-to-air missiles that are still floating around Afghanistan, the Geological Survey explained.
What did the Survey’s rock collectors find? “Afghanistan has significant amounts of undiscovered non-fuel mineral resources,” according to the agency’s 2007 report. “Mineral resources present a great source for a country’s industrial growth.” In addition to large quantities of accessible iron and copper, there are “abundant deposits of colored stones and gemstones, including emerald, ruby [and] sapphire.”
There’s a twist. Kabul had exclusive access to the data gathered by the planes. And when it came time to sell the data along with exploration rights for potential copper mines, Kabul picked a Chinese company — even though the U.S. government had done all the survey work, for free.
[PHOTO: USGS]
