At the former Soviet base-turned CIA Black Site and Uzbekistan's US military base, researchers knew early on that danger remained not only from the enemy but also from the ground itself.
The Karshi-Khanabad Air Base, known as the K2, has been the launchpad for US operations to Afghanistan since 9/11. But for the thousands of American troops who served there, it could have been a death sentence.
Army Environmental Engineer and Preventive Medicine Expert Matthew “Nick” Nichols was part of an early team assessing environmental hazards at K2.
“It's probably the most toxic soup of a chemical that a service member has ever exposed,” Nichols told Fox News Digital.
The yellow cake uranium was oozing out from the ground. Jet fuels and volatile chemicals from the corrupt Soviet rocket bunkers polluted the soil and air. Like the mist of forgotten war, dangerous smoke plagued the base.
Nichols and his team warned the commander, providing recommendations such as laying gravel, controlling toxic dust, and limiting the length of time that can work in high-risk zones. Several precautions were taken, and no other precautions were taken.
Researchers unearthed “Soviet-era jet fuel pure enough for engines and work” on a K2 basis. (Retrieved by Fox News Digital via Matthew Nicholls)
The image shows a visible “yellow cake” on the ground on K2-based. (Retrieved by Fox News Digital/Matthew Nicholls)
“The people I'm friends are now actively dying from cancer,” Nichols said. “These are strange ontology that surprise people in their 20s, 30s and 40s at the height of their lives, very young people.”
K2 veterans report a disturbing trend in rare and aggressive cancers, reproductive organ diseases, osteoarthritis, and sudden, unknown deaths.
The victim says after the Navy denied that fuel-contaminated water caused injuries: “It was affected in almost every way.”
“These are not cancers that young people usually get,” Nichols said. “Their stories can't really tell. That's the tragedy of that.”
“These people went there right after 9/11 and went there to revenge the deaths of those who were murdered,” Nichols said. “Even so, there was this launch pad in Uzbekistan, which was left in such a derelict state by the Soviets.”
Between 2001 and 2005, more than 15,000 US service members passed K2. Thousands of more were contractors. Many have found themselves struggling to get adequate medical care and approval from the Veterans Affairs Bureau (VA).
The VA recognizes that such veterans “may have encountered several dangerous exposures,” and the Department of Defense conducted its first study to examine cancer outcomes. However, the study is based only on several cases of each type of cancer and should not be considered “conclusive evidence of a connection to services in K-2,” the VA says.
However, a spokesman for Rep. Mark Green said he doesn't believe that these studies are insufficient and do not consider the full extent of contamination, and did not adequately inform residents that they account for the entire extent of disease that may arise from residential risk or toxic exposure.
“That's why Rep. Green's amendments to the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) call for new, completely rigorous epidemiological studies to cover these blind spots,” the spokesman said. “There are too many unknowns to call it a closed case.”
Fox News Digital has contacted the VA for comment.
Green, R-Tenn. and Dephen Lynch (D-Mass.) introduced provisions in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which requires the completion of research on K2 exposure within 180 days. Four years later, the research remains unfinished.
“This is unfair,” Green told Fox News Digital. “There have been repeated warnings that service members were exposed to toxins, but their health and safety were ignored by the Pentagon leadership that day.”
Researchers test radioactivity with K2. (Retrieved by Fox News Digital/Matthew Nicholls)
Researchers explore material in the K2 drilling pit. (Get from Matthew Nicholls/Fox News Digital)
In the first letter obtained by Fox News Digital, which came out late Friday, Green presses the Pentagon to complete a long-term study. The steps he insists on ensuring K2 veterans are available to them with the care they deserve is essential.
“Because this study has not yet been completed (as Congress knows), many K2 veterans are still waiting to receive the care they need,” he wrote. “This is unfair. There have been repeated warnings that military personnel (SICS) were exposed to toxins, but their health and safety were ignored by the Pentagon leaders that day.”
The Pentagon told Fox News Digital that it would personally respond to Green.
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In 2024, the VA moved to expand access to disability for K2 veterans and lower the burden of proof that veterans link illness to services. But supporters say it wasn't enough.
“The VA is limping,” Green said. “I think it's really purely costly. I want the VA to be wise, but my god, the numbers here are very convincing.
Green also introduced new laws requiring VAs to formally recognize the link between K2 toxic exposure and diseases like cancer, ensuring affected veterans are eligible for care and benefits.
K2 toxins included petrochemicals, volatile organic compounds, depleted uranium, combustion pits, and tetrachloroethylene, all chemicals were associated with long-term health risks.
However, K2 veterans have not been specifically named in PACT methods that expand coverage of other toxic exposures, such as Agent Orange and Burn Pits.
A doctor and Army veteran, Greene sees a disturbing echo of past delays.
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“Bureaucrats come and go, and bureaucrats have their own agenda,” he said. “I want to make sure it is written in stone and that these people will never forget.”
