Fragile Gains

Volume 78, No. 215B ©SS 2020 CONTINGENCY EDITION SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2020 stripes.com Free to Deployed Areas AFGHANISTAN Residents sue over radiation dangers from ex-Navy base BY ROSE L. THAYER Stars and Stripes Nearly 50 current and former residents of a shuttered Navy base have filed a lawsuit seeking $2 billion in damages, alleging officials from the Navy, the state of California and the city of San Francisco lied about the levels of radiation and toxic contamina- tion left behind after decades of military activity. The residents who filed the lawsuit claim they were told that it was safe to begin moving into old military housing on Treasure Is- land in the San Francis- co Bay. But they now suffer from illnesses and “fear of can- Treasure Island cer” because Fragile gains they believe the radiation levels on the island from decades of military work, Afghans fear peace deal could sacrifice progress made since Taliban’s ouster including decontaminating ships returning from nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll in the early years BY PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN of the Cold War, are much higher Stars and Stripes EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR EDUCATION than what service officials have KABUL, Afghanistan When U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001, fewer than 900,000 Afghan children were in publicly stated, according to the lawsuit filed Jan. 23 in San Fran- s Washington and the Taliban school, and all of them were boys. Today, over 9 million children attend school, including over 3.5 cisco Superior Court. move toward a deal to end the million girls. The number of university students has increased 30-fold. 18-year war in Afghanistan, Officials “purposely withheld many in the country fear that SOURCE: Stars and Stripes true levels of radiation on the is- gains made since the Taliban land,” said Stanley Goff, the at- Awas ousted in 2001 could be reversed. United States and the Taliban have reached said the official, who was not authorized to torney who filed the suit. “They The country may be war-weary and its a truce agreement that will take effect publicly discuss the matter and spoke on the continue [to say] that to the pres- economy in tatters, but journalists in today’s “very soon” and could lead to withdrawals condition of anonymity. ent date and they’re lying.” Afghanistan can report without censorship, of American troops from Afghanistan, The Some Afghans fear the Taliban may try to Residents have suffered tumors women and girls have the right to an educa- Associated Press reported. reverse hard-fought gains during negotia- the size of baseballs, extreme al- tion, and remote provinces have access to The agreement for a seven-day “reduction tions with the government, and that they’ll lergies and rashes, he said. Some healthcare. in violence” would be followed by the start former residents have died from A senior U.S. official said Friday that the of all-Afghan peace talks within 10 days, SEE FRAGILE ON PAGE 3 cancers, though they have not been directly linked to radiation Above: Afghan boys and girls sit together in a classroom at a school in Kabul in October 2019. Improvements in education, including exposure. Even some pets of resi- giving girls access to schools, have been seen across the country since U.S.-led forces invaded in 2001 and ousted the Taliban. dents have been diagnosed with rare cancers, Goff said. PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN/Stars and Stripes SEE DANGERS ON PAGE 5 MILITARY NATION MUSIC REVIEWS Esper warns Trump aims to rev up No evidence Green Day’s allies of threat support among crucial anti-establishment anger has from China demographic at Daytona mellowed on latest album Page 4 Page 8 Page 13 Joe Gibbs Racing boasts reigning Cup, Daytona 500 champs » Back page PAGE 2 •STARS AND STRIPES• Sunday, February 16, 2020 BUSINESS/WEATHER EXCHANGE RATES Military rates Switzerland (Franc)........................... 0.9806 Indexes close week with mixed finish Euro costs (Feb. 17) ..........................$1.1136 Thailand (Baht) ..................................... 31.19 Dollar buys (Feb. 17) ..........................€0.898 Turkey (Lira) .........................................6.0500 British pound (Feb. 17) ........................$1.34 (Military exchange rates are those Associated Press Japanese yen (Feb. 18) ......................107.00 available to customers at military banking weighed losses in energy and tial negative headlines about the South Korean won (Feb. 17) ...........1153.00 facilities in the country of issuance industrial stocks, and in consum- virus, analysts said. Commercial rates for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the Wall Street closed out a wob- Bahrain (Dinar) ................................... 0.3769 Netherlands and the United Kingdom. For bly day of trading Friday with er-centric companies. Businesses have been hurting British pound .....................................$1.3024 nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., Trading was mostly subdued due to the virus outbreak and Canada (Dollar) .................................. 1.3254 purchasing British pounds in Germany), the major stock indexes notch- China (Yuan) ........................................6.9836 check with your local military banking ing their second straight weekly and cautious following China’s re- more of them are warning that Denmark (Krone) ................................6.8812 facility. Commercial rates are interbank Egypt (Pound) ....................................15.6999 rates provided for reference when buying port Thursday of a surge in cases the effects will linger through the currency. All figures are foreign currencies gain. Euro .........................................$1.0857/0.9211 of a new virus that raised fresh year. Still, uncertainty over the to one dollar, except for the British pound, The S&P 500 and Nasdaq eked Hong Kong (Dollar) .............................7.7675 which is represented in dollars-to-pound, out tiny gains, good enough to concerns about global economic economic impact of the outbreak Hungary (Forint) .................................309.50 and the euro, which is dollars-to-euro.) Israel (Shekel) .....................................3.4265 nudge each to an all-time high growth. has been tempered by signals out Japan (Yen) ........................................... 109.72 for the fourth time this week. The The mixed finish for the index- of China’s government, which has Kuwait (Dinar) .....................................0.3049 INTEREST RATES es likely indicates some traders taken steps to shore up business- Norway (Krone) ...................................9.2322 Dow Jones Industrial Average Philippines (Peso).................................50.52 Prime rate ................................................4.75 ended with a slight loss. elected to sell and pocket some es from the fallout. The Federal Poland (Zloty) ..........................................3.91 Discount rate ..........................................2.25 Gains in the technology, real profits ahead of the long holiday Reserve has also helped reassure Saudi Arabia (Riyal) .......................... 3.7506 Federal funds market rate ...................1.58 Singapore (Dollar) ..............................1.3916 3-month bill .............................................1.53 estate and utilities sectors out- weekend to get ahead of poten- investors. South Korea (Won) .......................... 1183.61 30-year bond ...........................................2.05 WEATHER OUTLOOK SUNDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST SUNDAY IN EUROPE MONDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 41/36 Kabul 51/30 Seoul 23/19 Baghdad 65/45 Kandahar 55/35 Osan Tokyo Mildenhall/ Drawsko 29/25 50/46 Lakenheath Pomorskie Busan 57/47 50/38 35/31 Iwakuni 43/39 Kuwait Bahrain Zagan Sasebo City 62/58 Brussels 53/40 Guam 69/51 58/50 Ramstein 42/37 81/77 Lajes, 55/46 Riyadh Doha Azores Stuttgart Pápa 76/49 70/55 58/54 60/45 50/38 Aviano/ Vicenza 47/34 Naples 57/43 Okinawa Morón 59/55 65/46 Sigonella Rota 58/41 The weather is provided by the Djibouti Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 80/68 60/44 56/52 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. T O D A Y IN STRIPES American Roundup ...15 Comics ....................14 Crossword ...............14 Movies ...............12-13 Opinion ...................16 Sports ................ 17-24 Sunday, February 16, 2020 •STARS AND STRIPES• PAGE 3 WAR ON TERRORISM Esper: Taliban deal promising, not without risk BY ROBERT BURNS Ashraf Ghani, who has been AND MATTHEW LEE skeptical of the scheme, which, Associated Press if successful, would see an end to attacks for seven days and MUNICH — U.S. Defense Sec- then the signing of a U.S.-Taliban retary Mark Esper said Saturday peace deal. All-Afghan peace that a truce agreement between talks would then begin within 10 the United States and the Taliban days as part of the plan, which en- PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN/Stars and Stripes that could lead to the withdrawal visions the phased withdrawal of Female staff at Blossom Health Care Center in Kabul examine scans on Aug. 24, 2019. Blossom is one of American troops from Afghan- U.S. forces over 18 months. of numerous healthcare facilities that opened in Afghanistan following the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. The istan is not without risk but “looks The U.S. has not agreed to sus- peace deal between the U.S. and the Taliban has left Afghans fearing for their progress. very promising.” pend or end its counter-terrorism Ahead of a formal announce- operations in Afghanistan, which ment of the seven-day “reduction have been focused mainly on an in violence” deal, Esper

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