U.S. officials are studying reports that allowed elderly Afghan men to evacuate with young girls they claimed to be “wives,” with some of the alleged little girlfriends taken to an army base in Wisconsin, according to a report Friday.
An Aug. 27 State Department internal document said staff overseeing refugee admission to Fort McCoy (about 100 miles northwest of Madison, Wisconsin) had “reported multiple cases of women under they were presented “married” to adult Afghan men as well as polygamous families, ”The Associated Press reported.
“The State Department has called for urgent guidance,” the document added, seen by the PA and sent to all U.S. embassies and consulates, as well as to military command centers in Florida.
It is not clear exactly how many of the incidents of child sexual abuse have been reported.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials in the UAE recently sent a diplomatic cable to Washington warning that some young Afghans had been forced to marry to escape Afghanistan after the Taliban took over.
Officials familiar with the cable told the AP that it described the allegations of several girls in the humanitarian city of Abu Dhabi who had been sexually assaulted by their “husbands.” Officials asked for guidance on how to handle these cases.
Officials told the PA that all of these allegations are taken seriously, but that many of them are anecdotal and difficult to prove, especially amid the sinking of Afghan evacuees in various locations in the Middle East, Europe and the United States. .
While child marriage is not uncommon in Afghanistan, the United States has strict policies against human trafficking that include prosecuting criminals and sanctions for countries that do not bounce back from them.
In recent days, some Republican members of Congress have expressed concern that the Biden administration allowed the evacuation of Afghans with a criminal record or links to terrorist groups, while thousands of others who helped the Biden. U.S.-led NATO forces during the 20-year war against the Taliban were evacuated. left to fend for themselves in hostile territory.
A letter to President Biden signed by 26 Republican Party senators on Thursday estimated that more than 57,000 Afghans who were not U.S. citizens, green card holders or eligible for so-called special immigrant visas (SIV) were being evacuated.
Lawmakers said they were “concerned about reports that ineligible individuals, including Afghans linked to terrorist organizations or serious and violent criminals, were evacuated alongside families of innocent refugees.”
The Biden administration has not provided an estimate of the number of legal permanent residents or SIV applicants and holders remaining in Afghanistan, although the Wall Street Journal reported this week that the State Department believes that the “majority” of the latter category was left behind.
With publishing cables