Two Afghan evacuees who were transported to the United States as part of President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan have been charged after one allegedly attempted to rape a child and the other strangled his spouse, the Department of Justice revealed in a statement on Wednesday.
At Fort McCoy in Wisconsin, Bahrullah Noori, 20, was charged with “attempting to engage in a sexual act with a minor using force against that person,” as well as three counts of engaging in a sexual act with a minor. The victims were allegedly under 16-years-old and at least four years younger than Noori.
In an unrelated incident, Mohammad Haroon Imaad, 32, is charged with assaulting his spouse through strangling and suffocation.
The DOJ said both Noori and Imaad were previously charged in complaints filed in U.S. District Court. The pair made their initial appearance in Madison on September 16 and are currently being detained at the Dane County Jail.
“If convicted, Noori faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 30 years and a maximum of life in federal prison on the charges alleging use of force, and a maximum penalty of 15 years on the other two charges,” the DOJ statement said. “Imaad faces a maximum penalty of 10 years.”
The charges come following investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Fort McCoy Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Taylor Kraus is handling the Noori prosecution and Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Corey is handling the Imaad prosecution.
On Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that just seven percent of those evacuated from Afghanistan are U.S. citizens.
During a virtual hearing before the Homeland Security Committee on “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland: 20 Years After 9/11″ as reported by the New York Post, Sec. Mayorkas said that of the 60,000 Afghan nationals who have arrived in the U.S. after being evacuated, roughly seven percent are U.S. citizens, around six percent are lawful permanent residents and approximately three percent hold Special Immigrant Visas (SIV).
The thousands remaining are SIV applicants who are still being processed, locally employed staff, human rights activists, journalists and Afghans.
President Biden left “thousands” of lawful permanent residents of the U.S. stranded in Afghanistan after the disastrous evacuation from Kabul that resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. troops, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
During a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Blinken said the Biden administration’s “best estimates are that there’s several thousand green card holders in Afghanistan.”
