Timely Arrival US Defense Chief Austin in Kabul As Deadline for Withdrawal Looms
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MIDEAST NATION FACES Navy to hold ‘major’ Crowds gather across Comic actor joint exercise in country in protest of Cross takes Persian Gulf anti-Asian racism on drama Page 5 Page 10 Page 14 Pandemic makes presence felt on VCU, NCAA Tournament ›› Page 24 stripes.com Volume 79 Edition 239 ©SS 2021 MONDAY,MARCH 22, 2021 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas Timely arrival US defense chief Austin in Kabul as deadline for withdrawal looms BY LOLITA C. BALDOR AND RAHIM FAIEZ Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived Sunday in Kabul on his first trip to Afghanistan as Pentagon chief, amid swirling questions about how long American troops will remain in the INSIDE country. Defense State-owned Ra- dio and Television secretary Afghanistan and popular TOLO Tel- encourages evision reported Austin’s arrival in troops to get Kabul from India. vaccination He met with senior Afghan govern- Page 3 ment officials, in- cluding President Ashraf Ghani. According to The Washington Post, which was among the small group of U.S. media traveling with him, Austin said se- nior U.S. officials want to see “a responsible end to this conflict” and “a transition to AP something else.” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, center, walks with acting Afghan Minister of Defense Yasin Zia as they review an honor guard at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday after Austin’s arrival for his first trip to Afghanistan as Pentagon chief. SEE DEADLINE ON PAGE 3 Biden administration moves to reengage Europe after Trump snubs BY MATTHEW LEE “The meetings in administration’s first in-person Blinken’s trip is centered on the Russia and China. Associated Press talks with transatlantic leaders. It annual spring meeting of NATO for- The trip to Brussels will be Blin- WASHINGTON — America’s top Brussels reaffirm said Blinken would focus on con- eign ministers but will also include ken’s second overseas journey since diplomat is heading to Europe next the United States’ cerns over Afghanistan, China, Iran talks with top EU and Belgian offi- becoming America’s top diplomat. week as the Biden administration commitment to our and Russia, climate change, cyber- cials. He will return to Washington early moves to restore closer U.S. ties with security, terrorism and energy se- The Biden administration has Saturday from Japan, South Korea European and NATO allies after allies and European curity. placed great emphasis on repairing and Alaska. In Anchorage, he and four years of snubs and tension un- partners on our “The meetings in Brussels reaf- relations with U.S. allies around the national security adviser Jake Sulli- der former President Donald firm the United States’ commitment world, including in Europe, where van held contentious talks with top Trump. shared agenda,” to our allies and European partners Trump had strained them with a se- Chinese officials in which they The State Department announced on our shared agenda,” State De- ries of demands ranging from in- maintained the U.S. is forging a Friday that Secretary of State Anto- Ned Price partment spokesman Ned Price said creasing defense spending to trade common front with allies against ny Blinken will visit Brussels for the State Department spokesman in a statement. and cooperation on threats posed by Russia and China. PAGE 2 • STARS AND STRIPES • Monday, March 22, 2021 BUSINESS/WEATHER Oil giant Saudi Aramco’s profits drop to $49B EXCHANGE RATES Military rates S. Korea (Won) 1,129.94 Associated Press price has edged up as movement Saudi government, which owns Switzerland (Franc) .9291 Euro costs (March 22) $1.16 Thailand (Baht) 30.79 DUBAI, United Arab Emirates restrictions ease, commerce in- more than 98% of the company. Dollar buys (March 22) 0.8193 Turkey (New Lira) 7.2059 British pound (March 22) $1.36 — Saudi Arabia’s state-backed oil creases and more people get vac- The public figures, obligatory Japanese yen (March 22) 106.00 (Military exchange rates are those available giant Aramco announced Sunday cinated against COVID-19. Still, ever since the mostly state-owned South Korean won (March 22) 1,103.00 to customers at military banking facilities in the Commercial rates country of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Ger that its profits nearly halved in analysts caution that a peak in de- company listed a sliver of its many, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Bahrain (Dinar) .3770 For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pur 2020 to $49 billion, a big drop that mand may still be far off. worth on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock Britain (Pound) 1.3871 chasing British pounds in Germany), check with Canada (Dollar) 1.2494 your local military banking facility. Commercial came as the coronavirus pandem- Despite the 44% drop in net in- exchange in 2019, offer valuable China (Yuan) 6.5090 rates are interbank rates provided for reference Denmark (Krone) 6.2440 ic roiled global energy markets. come, Aramco said it would stick insight into the health of the re- Egypt (Pound) 15.6805 when buying currency. All figures are foreign Saudi Arabian Oil Co. released to its promise of paying quarterly gion’s largest economy. Despite Euro .8397 currencies to one dollar, except for the British Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7646 pound, which is represented in dollarsto its annual financial results a year dividends of $18.75 billion — $75 Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Hungary (Forint) 308.74 pound, and the euro, which is dollarstoeuro.) Israel (Shekel) 3.3009 after the pandemic sent the price billion a year — due to commit- bin Salman’s efforts to diversify Japan (Yen) 108.89 INTEREST RATES of oil crashing to all-time lows as ments the company made to sha- the economy away from oil, the Kuwait (Dinar) .3022 Norway (Krone) 8.5232 Prime rate 3.25 people stopped moving around the reholders in the run-up to its ini- kingdom remains heavily depend- Philippines (Peso) 48.51 Interest Rates Discount rate 0.75 Poland (Zloty) 3.87 Federal funds market rate 0.09 world to stem the spread of the vi- tial public offering. Nearly all of ent on oil exports to fuel govern- Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7508 3month bill 0.01 rus. In recent weeks, however, the the dividend money goes to the ment spending. Singapore (Dollar) 1.3420 30year bond 2.45 WEATHER OUTLOOK MONDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST MONDAY IN EUROPE TUESDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 46/35 Kabul Seoul 60/42 56/34 Baghdad 83/55 Tokyo Drawsko Osan Kandahar Mildenhall/ 57/35 52/36 89/51 Pomorskie Busan Lakenheath 40/33 56/38 50/37 Iwakuni Kuwait City Bahrain 55/46 79/61 Brussels Zagan Sasebo 74/68 Ramstein 42/29 58/46 Guam 45/39 42/33 84/80 Riyadh Lajes, 93/61 Doha Azores Stuttgart 89/60 61/57 40/33 Pápa Aviano/ 44/32 Vicenza 51/27 Naples 53/39 Okinawa Morón 67/62 67/35 Sigonella Rota Djibouti 51/44 The weather is provided by the 62/46 Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 88/66 62/57 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. TODAY IN STRIPES American Roundup ...... 11 Classified .................... 13 Comics .........................16 Crossword ................... 16 Faces .......................... 14 Opinion ........................ 15 Sports .................... 18-24 Monday, March 22, 2021 • STARS AND STRIPES • PAGE 3 MILITARY Austin urges vaccinations as he leaves S. Korea BY MATTHEW KEELER The defense secretary also talk- Stars and Stripes ed up the vaccine, which the mil- OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea itary cannot mandate troops to ac- — Vaccinations will make “quite a cept because the Food and Drug difference” by summer in the Administration has authorized it campaign against the coronavi- only for emergency use. The De- rus, Defense Secretary Lloyd Aus- fense Department, from the ser- tin told U.S. troops Friday before vice chiefs of staff on down the leaving for India. chain of command, have pitched Austin met with about 45 sol- the three brands of vaccine avail- diers and airmen at Osan, home of able to troops and civilians as safe the 51st Fighter Wing south of Se- and effective. oul, before taking off for the final “I want to push that vaccine and scheduled stop on his first over- do everything in America that we seas trip as Pentagon chief. can to help vaccinate the Ameri- He and Secretary of State Anto- can people so that the pandemic ny Blinken spent several days in ceases to be,” Austin said at Osan. the Far East meeting their coun- “We got a little ways to go, but I terparts in Japan and South Ko- think by this summer we can prob- rea. Military threats posed by Chi- ably see quite a difference.” na and North Korea were the fo- Many troops welcomed Austin’s cus of discussions in both coun- praise. tries. “He recognized the heavy pull Blinken left Seoul for Anchor- everybody here in Korea is doing age, Alaska, for two days of talks for COVID operations and shared with Chinese officials, including his appreciation for it,” said Col. MATTHEW KEELER/Stars and Stripes Chinese Communist Party foreign Christine Jones of the 7th Air Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks with service members at Osan Air Base, South Korea, on Friday. affairs chief Yang Jiechi. The two Force surgeon general’s office. traded pointed remarks at a public COVID-19 is the respiratory dis- “He said he’s trying to put us out fist bumping some of the service Hawaii and was scheduled to meet session Thursday before retiring ease caused by the coronavirus. of business, meaning that he is try- members.