As members of Congress, we all share a deep respect for our men and women in uniform, as well as a collective responsibility to ensure that our veterans are appropriately cared for upon their return home.
Unfortunately, our nation has not always honored that solemn promise. From Agent Orange in Vietnam to burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, generations of American soldiers have returned home from the battlefield, only to discover that they were exposed to dangerous and toxic hazards overseas. And when they seek recognition from their government, they are too often met with resistance or skepticism.
This is tragically playing out once again for the men and women who served at Karshi-Khanabad, or K2, a Soviet-era air base in southern Uzbekistan that the US military used to support missions into Afghanistan following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. While US forces worked and lived at K2 between 2001 and 2005, many service members described glowing green pond water, black goo oozing from the ground and signs that warned of radiation. The Defense Department knew that ground contamination at the K2 airbase posed health risks to US troops in 2001, according to a McClatchy report, and a military health assessment from 2004 that found “the potential for daily contact with radiation exists for up to 100% of the assigned units” at K2. As of October 2020, a CBS News investigation into a Facebook group for military personnel with K2-related health concerns found that nearly 2,000 veterans self-reported life-altering health conditions, which they believe to be linked to their deployments to K2, including hundreds who have been diagnosed with cancer.
