The Foreign Service Journal, April 2023

16 APRIL 2023 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL care, abortion access, sexual assault response, and access to gender- affirming care. The Working Group announced that they had collaborated with multiple bureaus to reach out to managers about their responsibility to provide support for breastfeeding during work hours, includ- ing access to lactation spaces, etc. “GTM also recently completed updates to the New Parent Guide, includ- ing lactation resources, information on federal insurance coverage for infertility treatments, and the extension of the New Child Emergency Visitation Travel (EVT) benefit to cover adoption, foster care, and surrogacy.” The message also included a list of actions the group would like to see completed, including the purchase of hospital-grade breast pumps for overseas posts and hiring D.C.-based contract OB/ GYN specialists to support MED provid- ers and patients overseas. On Jan. 23, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and USAID Administrator Samantha Power calling on the Biden administration to “guarantee access to adequate healthcare services, including reproductive health- care and post-sexual assault care, for women employees at the State Depart- ment and United States Agency for Inter- national Development (USAID).” The letter pointed to the first National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equal- ity (2021), which affirms that access to health care is considered “a right—not a privilege.” The senators added that they “struggle to reconcile the National Strategy’s vision with the experience of women working for the State Department and USAID who are asked to carry out the important objectives of that strategy and yet lack access to adequate reproductive health- care themselves.” The Women’s Health Working Group can be reached at M_communications@ state.gov. If you are interested in engag- ing in this work at USAID, email health equityworkinggroup@usaid.gov . Special Inspector Questions Continuing Aid to Afghanistan T he Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) issued its 58th quarterly report to Con- gress in January 2023. The congressionally mandated report gives an overview of reconstruction activi- ties in Afghanistan and provides a detailed statement of the associated costs. Since August 2021, the United States has made available more than $8 billion in assistance to Afghanistan and Afghan refugees, including more than $2 billion for humanitarian and development aid, $3.5 billion to recapitalize the Afghan cen- tral bank, and $2.7 billion for the Depart- ment of Defense to transport, house, and feed Afghan refugees. However, the report notes, the Taliban’s