(The Center Square) – Another Afghan-related terrorist attack was foiled one day before two National Guardsmen were shot in Washington, D.C., federal authorites said Saturday.
The alleged perpetrators were released into the country through a federal program rife with failures, prompting for calls for others in the program to be deported, citing national security concerns.
On Wednesday, two National Guardsmen were shot by an Afghan national released into the country through the “Operation Allies Welcome” program created by the Biden administration after its withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.
U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries; Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition. Both are from West Virginia.
Authorities identified their shooter as Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, who was reportedly part of a CIA “Zero Unit” operating in Afghanistan during the U.S. war against the Taliban, according to multiple news reports. After Beckstrom’s death, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro upgraded the charges against Lakanwal to first degree murder. Initial charges included three counts each for assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.
On Tuesday, another Afghan national released into the country through Operation Allies Welcome was arrested on charges of threatening to blow up a building in Fort Worth, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced Saturday.
“Mohammad Dawood Alokozay posted a video of himself on TikTok indicating he was building a bomb with an intended target of the Fort Worth area,” DHS said. He was arrested by Texas Department of Public Safety investigators and FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force members and charged with making terroristic threats. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have lodged a detainer request to take him into custody.
The Afghan men were among more than 77,000 who were released into the country who weren’t properly vetted, according to an Inspector General report. It found that the Biden administration “admitted or paroled evacuees who were not fully vetted into the United States.” It didn’t have their “name, date of birth, identification number, and travel document data, was inaccurate, incomplete, or missing,” the OIG found.
The audit also uncovered that DHS didn’t have a list of Afghan evacuees “who were unable to provide sufficient identification documents,” or have “a contingency plan to support similar emergency situations.” As a result, it “may have admitted or paroled individuals into the United States who pose a risk to national security and the safety of local communities.”
The program was rife with problems, the audit found, including Afghan men who allegedly assaulted a female Fort Bliss, Texas, soldier; and others housed at Wisconsin’s Fort McCoy charged with engaging in sexual acts with a minor and assault. Republican members of Congress demanded answers about the vetting process and about thousands of Afghans sent to live on military bases and in local communities nationwide, The Center Square reported.
They didn’t receive answers as the Biden administration granted Afghan nationals Temporary Protective Status. The Trump administration terminated Afghan TPS in May, effective in July, according to DHS.
In 2024, an Afghan national released through the program was arrested in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for conspiring to conduct an Election Day terrorist attack on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization, The Center Square reported.
In June, he pleaded guilty to two terrorism-related offenses: conspiring and attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS, and receiving, attempting to receive, and conspiring to receive firearms and ammunition in furtherance of a federal crime of terrorism.
He faces up to 35 years in prison; his coconspirator faces up to 15 years. Once their terms are completed, they will be deported and barred from reentry to the U.S., the Department of Justice said.
“When tens of thousands of insufficiently vetted individuals are let into the interior, this is the inevitable result,” members of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee said last fall after the Election Day terrorist plot was foiled. Republican members repeatedly warned of terror threats stemming from Biden-Harris administration policies, The Center Square reported.
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