Authorities have confirmed that Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan national accused of shooting two National Guard members last week, had been a high-level CIA-vetted asset during the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
Lakanwal served in the CIA-backed Zero Unit, specifically the elite Unit 03 Kandahar Strike Force.
Since arriving in the U.S. in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, reports say he struggled with culture shock, isolation from family, and rebuilding his life—despite his asylum being approved earlier this year.
But between landing in the US in 2021 via the US-orchestrated evacuation programme called Operation Allies Welcome, and having his asylum application approved in April of this year, he reportedly struggled to adapt to life in the US.
“I know for a fact that in January 2024, a note was sent out across his ecosystem trying to get him help. One of the resettlement agencies that has the behavioural health program showed up trying to help him. He declined,” Shawn VanDiver, the founder and president of the non-profit advocacy group #AfghanEvac, told Middle East Eye.
The Trump administration was already cracking down on immigration before Wednesday’s shooting, and Afghans have been a target of its efforts.
Last week, CNN reported that the Trump administration was planning to reinterview potentially tens of thousands of refugees who were admitted to the US under the presidency of Joe Biden.
In May, the Trump administration eliminated the Operation Enduring Welcome programme – an interagency pipeline built to continue relocating vetted Afghan wartime allies after the initial evacuation – as well as the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, which supported the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) for Afghans.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/scapegoating-thousands-afghans-thrust-uncertainty-after-dc-shooting
