Recent study: One in four U.S. servicewomen in Afghanistan were sexually assaulted
Bayan News – A recent study published by the “Cost of War” project at Brown University has found that one in four U.S. servicewomen in Afghanistan were sexually assaulted.
The report, published on Wednesday (August 14), states that the total number of sexual assaults in the U.S. military during the years 2021 to 2023 reached around 150,000.
The report also refers to the statistics of sexual assaults among U.S. forces in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021, stating that over the past 20 years, one in four servicewomen and about 1.9% of servicemen experienced sexual assault.
The Brown University-affiliated institution also found that Black women and LGBTQ+ personnel in the U.S. military were disproportionately targeted for sexual harassment.
Jennifer Greenburg, the author of the report, said that in the post-9/11 wars, the priority given to troop readiness over other concerns led to an exacerbation of the problems of sexual assault, domestic violence, and gender inequalities within military institutions.
However, the statistics reported are around twice as high as the estimates made by the U.S. Department of Defense regarding sexual assault cases among U.S. military personnel.
The U.S. Department of Defense or Pentagon had previously estimated that the number of sexual assault cases might reach 35,900 in 2021 and 29,000 in 2023, but according to the recent report, the figures reached 75,569 in 2021 and 73,695 in 2023.
Sexual assault has become a serious problem in the U.S. military. The authorities have been trying to address this reality for years, but the statistics of sexual assault remain high.
