Trump Signs Order for Study of Veterans Who Served at Toxic Base in Uzbekistan

Trump Signs Order for Study of Veterans Who Served at Toxic Base in Uzbekistan
President Donald Trump boards Air Force One before departing Harlingen, Texas, on Jan. 12, 2021. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
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As one of his final acts, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at helping veterans who were exposed to toxic matter at a Soviet-era air base in Uzbekistan after 9/11.

The airbase, known as the Karshi-Khanabad Air Base, or K2, came under scrutiny after media investigations revealed veterans faced a range of illnesses after being deployed to the base. These veterans have been self-reporting rare cancers, disorders, and other illnesses they believe are linked to the time they served on the base on a Facebook page run by the Stronghold Freedom Foundation, a group that represents the veterans that were deployed in K2.