United States officials are investigating reports about girls among Afghan evacuees being forced to marry older men in order to escape the war-torn country. American officials in the United Arab Emirates and in Wisconsin have identified numerous incidents in which Afghan girls have been presented to authorities as the “wives” of aged men.

While child marriage is not uncommon in Afghanistan, the US has strict policies against human trafficking that include prosecutions for offenders and sanctions for countries that don’t crack down on it. The officials sent a diplomatic cable to Washington warning that some of the evacuees are child brides or otherwise sexually abused.

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An internal document described to the Associated Press by officials familiar with it says that Afghan girls at a transit site in Abu Dhabi have come forward with allegations that they were raped by older men they were forced to marry in order to escape Afghanistan.

“Intake staff at Fort McCoy reported multiple cases of minor females who presented as ‘married’ to adult Afghan men, as well as polygamous families,” the document says. “Department of State has requested urgent guidance.”

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There was no immediate indication from the military or from the departments of homeland security and health and human services, which run the facility, that such guidance had been received.

Officials familiar with the cable say it describes allegations by several girls at the Humanitarian City in Abu Dhabi that they had been sexually assaulted by their “husbands” and seeks guidance on how to handle such cases. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal communications.

With inputs from the Associated Press