BELLINGHAM, Washington — The alleged Afghan terrorist accused of executing one National Guard soldier and critically wounding another just blocks from the White House should never have been allowed into the US, the CIA director said Thursday.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal and his family were welcomed into the US four years ago after serving in a CIA-backed elite Afghan commando “Zero Unit” that was accused of torture and the brutal murder of civilians.
After his war-torn country fell to barbaric Taliban rule, the 29-year-old was given a $2,000-per-month apartment in the quiet town of Bellingham, Washington, neighbors told The Post — along with, reportedly, a contracting gig at Amazon.
“This individual — and so many others — should have never been allowed to come here,” CIA director John Ratcliffe said in response to the shooting, revealing that Lakanwal previously worked for a unit tied to the spy agency.
“Our citizens and servicemembers deserve far better than to endure the ongoing fallout from the Biden Administration’s catastrophic failures. God bless our brave troops.”
Following the attack, the Department of Homeland Security announced it would stop processing immigration requests for Afghan nationals pending a review of security protocols and that “all” Biden-era asylum cases would be scrutinized. President Trump also directed a sweeping review of green card holders from 19 countries of concern.
Lakanwal served in the elite NDS-03 counterterrorism unit in Afghanistan, one of at least five paramilitary “Zero Units” that worked with the CIA, according to the nonprofit group #AfghanEvac.
Lakanwal was vetted by the CIA and checked through the National Counterterrorism Center, a senior US official told CNN. “He was clean on all checks,” the official said.
Asked how an Afghan cleared to work with the CIA could commit such a heinous attack in the United States, Trump replied: “He went cuckoo. I mean, he went nuts.”
A childhood friend of Lakanwal’s said the shooting suspect suffered mental problems from what he saw in Afghanistan.
“When he saw blood, bodies, and the wounded, he could not tolerate it,” the friend told the New York Times. “It put a lot of pressure on his mind.”
Due to his service to the US, Lakanwal was let into America in 2021 under “Operation Allies Welcome,” a Biden administration program to help Afghans who fought against the Taliban escape the war-torn country in the wake of the disastrous American withdrawal.
“He betrayed his family. He betrayed every American that helped him get here. He betrayed the United States government,” Shawn VanDiver, founder and president of #AfghanEvac, a nonprofit run by American veterans helping resettle Afghan allies in the US, but not Lakanwal.
“He deserves to be held fully accountable,” VanDiver added, fearing that the shooting Lakanwal is accused of committing could impact other allies who have been resettled in the US. “But Afghan families did not do this.”
Operation Allies Welcome has previously faced scrutiny over alarming flaws in its vetting process, including issues that were highlighted in two Department of Homeland Security Inspector General reports.
One of those damning reports conducted in 2022 found that Department of Homeland Security officers “did not always have critical data to properly screen, vet, or inspect the evacuees.” Under the Biden-era program, roughly 76,000 Afghans were admitted into the US.
Trump halted all Afghan refugee resettlement in the US and travel from Afghanistan shortly after being sworn in for his second term. The Trump administration announced on Wednesday that it had indefinitely stopped “processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals.”
After being welcomed in the US, Lakanwal, his hijab-covered wife and their five children settled in the idyllic northwest Washington city of Bellingham. He largely lived a quiet life in a modern apartment building, where he often played Call of Duty and FIFA, neighbors told The Post.
“Bellingham is very liberal,” a neighbor explained, describing the area he settled in as “very welcoming. Very diverse. Very open.”
While it’s not entirely clear what his last job was, a relative told NBC News that Lakanwal worked as a contractor for Amazon Flex, a delivery service in which contract workers make deliveries with their own vehicles.
“We were the ones that were targeted by the Taliban in Afghanistan,” the relative told the outlet. “I cannot believe it that he might do this.”
Lakanwal had applied for asylum in December 2024 and later got approval under the Trump administration in April of this year.
For reasons that still aren’t clear, Lakanwal allegedly decided to go on a cross-country trek and carry out what officials described as a “targeted” shooting rampage in Washington, DC, just blocks away from the White House.
West Virginia National Guard members, Sarah Beckstrom, 20, was killed and Andrew Wolfe, 24, was critically wounded in the ambush attack. Beckstrom died on Thanksgiving, Trump announced on Thursday.
“She was savagely attacked, she’s dead,” Trump said during an address to military members.
A third guardsman quickly rushed off and neutralized the suspect, stabbing him with a pocketknife, while a fourth opened fire on him. The suspect was then carried away naked.
It took federal agents about 16 hours to bust down Lakanwal’s mustard-colored front door, according to his neighbors.
“They took everybody out of the apartment but I don’t think the kids were there. It’s pretty shocking. Every sign in the world is pointing [to Lakanwal being the shooter] but there are some things that just aren’t adding up,” a neighbor told The Post.
Lakanwal was facing at least three counts of assault with intent to kill and criminal possession of a weapon, prior to news of Beckstrom’s death. But US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro warned those charges would escalate if one of the wounded passed away. Attorney General Pam Bondi predicted prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Lakanwal.
“This is what happens in this country when people are allowed in who are not properly vetted,” a visibly angered Pirro said during a Thursday press briefing.
“This was not just an attack; it was a direct challenge to law and order in our nation’s capital.”
A motive for the shooting rampage has not been publicly revealed.
In the wake of the attack, Trump ordered an additional 500 National Guard troops to defend DC, which comes on top of the more than 2,100 troops assigned to the Joint Task Force District of Columbia, per the Pentagon. The National Guard has been in DC since Aug. 11.
— Emily Crane contributed reporting
