Care of Veterans With Service in Uzbekistan
The order directs the Department of Defense to study toxic exposure at the Karshi-Khanabad Air Base in Uzbekistan and requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to consider granting combat-theater status to veterans who served there between 2001 and 2005.
Whether those veterans ultimately receive expanded healthcare eligibility depends on a future designation decision — the order initiates a study process, not a final benefit determination.
What this order does
What it orders
The order directs the Secretary of Defense to complete, within 365 days, a rigorous study investigating toxic exposure at Karshi-Khanabad Air Base in Uzbekistan for service members deployed there from October 1, 2001, through December 31, 2005. The study must identify toxic substances at the base, map exact locations and time frames of exposure, conduct an epidemiological analysis of resulting health consequences, and assess any causal link between toxic exposure and those health outcomes. A report summarizing findings must be submitted to the President through the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Separately, the order directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, to consider whether those same Uzbekistan veterans should be designated as having served in a theater of combat operations under federal law — a status that would expand their VA healthcare eligibility. The order does not itself grant that designation or create any new enforceable benefit; both outcomes depend on future decisions by the relevant agency heads.
Who it affects
Veterans and current service members who served on active duty at Karshi-Khanabad Air Base in Uzbekistan between October 1, 2001, and December 31, 2005, who may have been exposed to toxic substances and could potentially become eligible for expanded VA healthcare benefits.
Why it matters
Veterans of the Karshi-Khanabad deployment who have suffered health problems may gain access to expanded VA healthcare if a future combat-theater designation is granted. The study's findings will be the evidentiary basis for that determination, making its rigor and scope directly relevant to those veterans' healthcare options.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
The Defense Secretary must deliver a toxic-exposure study within 365 days; the study must meet the same evidentiary standard VA already uses for presumptive service-connection determinations, ensuring its findings can directly inform a VA eligibility decision. The report flows to the President through the VA Secretary, who separately must decide whether to grant combat-theater status. No enforcement mechanism compels a specific outcome on the designation question — that decision rests entirely with the VA Secretary.
Actions and deadlines
- Conduct a rigorous study of toxic exposure at Karshi-Khanabad Air Base and submit findings report to the President through the VA Secretary
- Consider whether to designate Uzbekistan veterans as having served in a theater of combat operations under 38 U.S.C. § 1710(e)(1)(D)