Weighing the Future US Reaffirms Vow to Withdraw Troops in Iraq Talks
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MILITARY GOLF VIDEO GAMES Senate panel approves PGA Tour’s return A novel premise, $740B bill that would comes with silence, humor smooth boost pay, troop numbers distance, new habits Maneater’s flaws Page 3 Back page Page 13 West Point grads raise concerns about politicization of military » Page 7 Volume 79, No. 40A ©SS 2020 CONTINGENCY EDITION SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2020 stripes.com Free to Deployed Areas Weighing the future US reaffirms vow to withdraw troops in Iraq talks BY LOUISA LOVELUCK under pressure to satisfy that demand with- The Washington Post out risking security gaps that Islamic State fighters might exploit. The United States intends to continue “The two countries recognized that in light withdrawing troops from Iraq, it said in a of significant progress towards eliminating statement late Thursday, after the two coun- the ISIS threat, over the coming months the tries began talks on the future of their stra- U.S. would continue reducing forces from tegic relationship. Iraq,” both nations said in a joint communi- Seventeen years after the U.S.-led in- que. U.S. officials stressed that they did not vasion of Iraq, the talks, which began SEE TALKS ON PAGE 5 Thursday, focus on a wide range of issues. Thorniest among them is the question of U.S. Army Spc. Caleb Poninski reloads his foreign troop presence: Iraq’s parliament weapon during a live-fire training exercise has urged the U.S.-led coalition to leave, at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, on April 30. and Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi is DEREK MUSTARD/U.S. Army Afghanistan to release more Taliban prisoners, setting stage for talks BY PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN in February calls for up to 5,000 Taliban clarity regarding the fate of those that are need to be worked out, Thursday’s devel- Stars and Stripes prisoners and 1,000 government prisoners with them and assurance that the last per- opments were “all very positive,” said U.S. to be set free. son remaining with them is released.” envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who led the U.S. KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan “My colleagues and I have made the de- Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen discussion with the Taliban last year. will soon complete a prisoner release that cision to release an additional 2,000 pris- called Ghani’s words a “positive step” “We are closer to the goal of [peace the Taliban have demanded before start- oners within a short period,” Ghani said. and said once all 5,000 prisoners were re- talks] than ever before,” Khalilzad said on ing peace talks to end nearly two decades “Next week we should be able to inform leased, the group would be willing to start Twitter. of war, the country’s president said. the world of the next step.” peace talks within a week. Under the U.S.-Taliban deal signed Feb. Some 3,000 Taliban prisoners have al- It’s still unclear how many government Nearly 50 imprisoned Afghan policemen 29, all U.S. troops could withdraw from Af- ready been released, President Ashraf prisoners the Taliban is holding, Ghani were released Thursday, bringing the total ghanistan within 14 months if certain con- Ghani said in an online discussion with said. number of government prisoners released ditions are met. They include the start of the Atlantic Council on Thursday. A peace “The number keeps shifting,” he told the so far to 500, Shaheen said. intra-Afghan peace talks and the Taliban deal signed by the U.S. and the Taliban Washington-based think tank. “We need While many practical details need still SEE PRISONERS ON PAGE 4 PAGE 2 •STARS AND STRIPES• Saturday, June 13, 2020 BUSINESS/WEATHER EXCHANGE RATES British airlines: Quarantine too strict Military rates Switzerland (Franc)............................0.9471 Euro costs (June 15) .............................$1.11 Thailand (Baht) .....................................30.93 Dollar buys (June 15) ....................... €0.8607 Turkey (Lira) ........................................ 6.8357 British pound (June 15) .......................$1.23 Associated Press (Military exchange rates are those quarantine is limited to passen- enables civil servants to focus Japanese yen (June 15) .....................105.00 available to customers at military banking gers from “high risk” countries. on other, more significant, issues South Korean won (June 15) ..........1176.00 facilities in the country of issuance LONDON — Three major air- Commercial rates for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the Quarantine measures imposed lines have launched legal action arising from the pandemic while Bahrain (Dinar) ....................................0.3776 Netherlands and the United Kingdom. For this week stipulate that all pas- bringing the U.K. in line with British pound .....................................$1.2587 nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., against the British government, Canada (Dollar) .................................. 1.3559 purchasing British pounds in Germany), sengers — bar a handful of ex- much of Europe which is opening China (Yuan) ....................................... 7.0720 check with your local military banking describing the country’s plan to ceptions like truckers or medical Denmark (Krone) ................................6.5967 facility. Commercial rates are interbank its borders mid-June ,” they said rates provided for reference when buying quarantine most incoming travel- workers — must fill in a form de- Egypt (Pound) ....................................16.1811 in a statement. Euro .......................................$ 1.1302/0.8848 currency. All figures are foreign currencies ers as “flawed.” tailing where they will self-isolate Hong Kong (Dollar) ............................ 7.7502 to one dollar, except for the British pound, British Airways, easyJet and which is represented in dollars-to-pound, British Airways, easyJet and for two weeks. The requirement Hungary (Forint) ................................ 305.95 Ryanair argue that the U.K. quar- Israel (Shekel) .....................................3.4676 and the euro, which is dollars-to-euro.) Ryanair said in a statement Fri- applies regardless of whether Japan (Yen) ........................................... 107.35 day that the quarantine will have they are U.K. citizens or not, and antine rules are more stringent Kuwait (Dinar) .....................................0.3077 INTEREST RATES than guidelines applied to people Norway (Krone) ...................................9.5757 a “devastating effect,” on tourism those who fail to comply could be Philippines (Peso)................................ 50.29 Prime rate ................................................3.25 and the wider economy. The air- fined. who actually have COVID-19, Poland (Zloty) ......................................... 3.93 Discount rate ..........................................0.25 Saudi Arabia (Riyal) .......................... 3.7539 Federal funds market rate ...................0.06 lines want the government to re- “This would be the most prac- who do not have to report to au- Singapore (Dollar) ..............................1.3899 3-month bill ............................................. 0.16 adopt its previous policy, where tical and effective solution and thorities on their location. South Korea (Won) ...........................1202.78 30-year bond ...........................................1.40 WEATHER OUTLOOK SATURDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST SATURDAY IN EUROPE SUNDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 68/59 Kabul 77/54 Seoul 75/69 Baghdad 98/72 Kandahar 98/53 Osan Tokyo Mildenhall/ Drawsko 73/69 70/66 Lakenheath Pomorskie Busan 72/58 79/66 77/70 Iwakuni 73/70 Kuwait Bahrain Zagan Sasebo City 92/89 Brussels 80/64 Guam 103/84 75/57 Ramstein 76/73 84/81 Lajes, 75/58 Riyadh Doha Azores Stuttgart Pápa 106/78 104/84 63/60 78/60 81/60 Aviano/ Vicenza 71/56 Naples 75/61 Okinawa Morón 80/77 80/55 Sigonella Rota 89/60 The weather is provided by the Djibouti Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 102/85 70/61 73/64 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. T O D A Y IN STRIPES American Roundup ..... 16 Comics/Crossword ...... 18 Health & Fitness ....... 12 Movies ..................14-15 Opinion ..................... 17 Sports .................. 19-24 Video Games ..............13 Saturday, June 13, 2020 •STARS AND STRIPES• PAGE 3 MILITARY US soldiers learning local lingo in Poland BY IMMANUEL JOHNSON 42,000 acres and regularly take Stars and Stripes part in exercises with forces from other NATO member states. BEMOWO PISKIE TRAIN- But besides training, there isn’t ING AREA, Poland — One of the a lot to do in the area. So some first things Sgt. Tyler Ithier and of the soldiers take Polish les- 1st Lt. Kyle Jackson did when sons, learning both informal ex- they came to this town in north- pressions and some they can use eastern Poland to support a U.S.- professionally. led NATO battle group was learn “For military purposes, our a few phrases in Polish. teacher has taught us phrases They quickly mastered greet- that can help us communicate on ings like “’Shema,’ which means how to get back to base,” Jackson ‘what’s up,’” said Jackson, using said. an English phonetic version of Classes were put on hold in “Jak sie masz” — Polish for “How March because of the corona- are you?” virus, but recently resumed. Expressions like “Masz piekne On Tuesday, Ithier and Jackson oczy,” which means “You have joined two other Americans in beautiful eyes,” now trip off their the classroom. tongues. Ithier, who’s single and Attendance is usually higher, from Florida, said it’s useful but many troops were in the field “when you’re talking to a woman for