Sec. 2. Findings; sense of Congress; definition
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Congress makes the following findings: After 20 years, August 2021 marked the end of the United States military involvement in Afghanistan—the longest war in American history. As of January 27, 2022, the United States has evacuated more than 76,000 Afghans through Operation Allies Welcome. Between May and August of 2021, 80 percent of nearly 250,0000 Afghans forced to flee since the end of May were women and children. According to a group of United Nations human rights experts, the Taliban is currently institutionalizing large-scaled systematic gender-based discrimination against Afghan women and girls.
This includes denying women and girls the access to secondary and tertiary education based on their gender. On January 17, 2022, a group of 36 United Nations human rights experts expressed concerns regarding restrictive measures that have been introduced since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, particularly those concerning women and girls . The United States and the international community have expressed concern about Afghan women and girls, their rights to education, work, and freedom of movement, and called on those in positions of power and authority across Afghanistan to guarantee their protection.
The United States and the international community have affirmed that Afghan women and girls, as all Afghan people, deserve to live in safety, security and dignity . It is the sense of Congress that— every individual should have the opportunity to pursue a full cycle of primary, secondary, and higher education; and every individual, regardless of gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, or religion should have the opportunity to pursue an education without fear of discrimination.
The term displaced Afghan women and girls means women and girls who escaped or fled Afghanistan and entered the United States on or after July 1, 2021, and before the date that is two years after the date of the enactment of this Act, and who are domiciled in the United States.