Incidents of sexual assault in the military grew 13 percent in fiscal year 2021, according to a report from the Pentagon released Thursday.
We’ll dive deep into the numbers. Plus, we’ll talk about the end of an immigration pathway for those evacuated from Afghanistan during the U.S.’s withdrawal of troops.
Reports of sexual assault in the military grew 13 percent in fiscal year 2021, according to a report from the Pentagon released Thursday.
The report said the department received 8,866 reports of sexual assault during the last fiscal year, up 1,050 reports over the 7,816 it received in fiscal year 2020.
‘Tragic and extremely disappointing:’ Elizabeth Foster, executive director of the Office of Force Resiliency in the Department of Defense, said the numbers were the highest sexual assault prevalence for women since the department began tracking in 2006, and the second-highest prevalence rate for men.
“These numbers are tragic and extremely disappointing,” Foster told reporters. “Every incident has a ripple effect across the unit and impacts unit cohesion, ability to trust and distracts from the critical mission at hand.”
- The increase in sexual assault reports were driven by increases in the Army, which saw the largest increase in reporting out of all the services.
- The service received 4,081 reports of sexual assault, a 25 percent increase over fiscal year 2020.
And as for sexual harassment: The survey found that about 29 percent of active-duty women experienced an incident of sexual harassment in 2021, up from 24 percent in 2018.
The U.S. government will no longer temporarily waive immigration requirements for vulnerable Afghans entering the country, instead focusing on more enduring pathways as the evacuation enters a new phase.
The government will largely cease its use of humanitarian parole to allow at-risk Afghans to enter the country after Oct. 1, requiring remaining evacuees to demonstrate family ties in the U.S., a connection with the U.S. military or that they are among the most vulnerable applicants to the U.S. refugee program.
A shift to long-term strategy: The latest move is a sign of a new phase in the U.S. evacuation effort as the nation marks one year since the military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
- The move will ensure that those who arrive in the U.S. come with a more stable immigration status.
- Those who are given humanitarian parole at ports of entry are given just two years to secure another immigration pathway — a detail that has left many of the 85,000 Afghans who arrived during the evacuation uncertain about their future.
Recognize the ‘urgency:’ As the government shifts from Operation Allies Welcome to a new program they are calling Operation Enduring Welcome, it has pledged to speed up processing of those hopeful of getting a Special Immigrant Visa due to their service to the U.S. military — a yearslong process that requires high-level State Department approval. Refugee applications similarly take years to process.