US military personnel deployed in Uzbekistan's Karshi-Khanabad Air Base (K2), a former Soviet military installation, between 2001 and 2005 were exposed to dangerous toxins, according to the declassified Department of Defense files released by the US House of Representatives
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th July, 2020) US military personnel deployed in Uzbekistan's Karshi-Khanabad Air Base (K2), a former Soviet military installation, between 2001 and 2005 were exposed to dangerous toxins, according to the declassified Department of Defense files released by the US House of Representatives.
The US forces were deployed in the Central Asian country after the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Center in 2001 to support the US mission in Afghanistan. In 2019, the US newspaper McClatchyDC reported that at least 61 soldiers who were stationed at K2 have been diagnosed with cancer or died from the disease.
"On July 9, 2020, the Subcommittee on National Security released previously classified documents produced by the U.S. military in 2001, 2002, and 2004, which reveal: Servicemembers were exposed to multiple toxic hazards while at K2," the files released by a bipartisan group of lawmakers from the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the house of representatives on Thursday read.
According to the files, the US military was exposed to Petrochemical Contamination, Volatile Organic Compounds, Particulate Matter 10 and Tetrachloroethylene. Moreover, "up to 100 percent of units" deployed at the K2 base were exposed to radiation, the house of representatives said.
The documents released by the committee include health risk assessments and environmental hazard surveys carried out by the defense authorities. In particular, the department of defense found out that the soil around the K2 base was contaminated with jet fuel.
Thousands of US troops have served at the K2 base where, the Pentagon claimed, missiles had been destroyed during the Soviet era.
Ex-Uzbek President islam Karimov ejected US troops in 2005 from the country following Washington's criticism of human rights violations and a crackdown on protesters of the former government.
