The Afghan DC Shooter – Some Things We Know – Some Things We Need To Find Out

On November 26, 2025, an Afghan national named Rahmanullah Lakanwal shot two West Virginia National Guardsmen in Washington, DC. One of the soldiers has since died. The other may very well succumb to his wounds. Lakanwal was shot but is expected to recover and be tried for murder.

Let’s take stock of what we actually know at this point regarding the assailant.

Before coming to the United States, Lakanwal served in an Afghan unit affiliated with the Afghan Intelligence Service and the CIA. There were several of these units during our time in Afghanistan. Their job was to hunt down and kill or capture members of the Taliban fighting U.S. forces.

Embedded in these units were CIA paramilitary officers. These Ground Branch officers are typically drawn from military special operations units. They are seasoned professionals.

Afghans brought into these units were vetted and monitored. Given the nature of the operations of these Afghan units, it was imperative that the Taliban not be able to penetrate them and have warning of their activities. These CIA-led units were highly effective and feared by the Taliban.

When he fled Afghanistan, Lakanwal and his family were brought here as part of an effort to get “friendly” Afghans who had fought on our side in the war to safety. This was known as Operation Allies Welcome. He and his family were issued visas to enter the country. When those visas expired, the family was here illegally for several months until Lakanwal filed for asylum. He was granted asylum in April of this year. His request for permanent resident status in this country is technically still pending.

Lakanwal and his family, along with several hundred other Afghans, were ultimately settled in Washington State. For a period of roughly two months, Lakanwal and his family lived in the private residence of a couple in Washington State. Contemporaneous press reports show the couple took in these Afghans as a gesture of support for a man they believed to be an ally, who had fought alongside our troops in the Afghan war.

At some point, Lakanwal, his wife, and children moved into an apartment in Bellingham, Washington. Press interviews of neighbors since the shooting suggest that Lakanwal had little interaction with the residents of the other apartments in the building. They also suggest that his apartment was very sparsely furnished and that when the windows were open, neighbors could see that Lakanwal and his family slept on couch cushions on the floor.

None of this changes the fact that Lakanwal drove to Washington, DC, and attacked two American soldiers. He should be tried. He should be convicted. He should be put to death forthwith.

It does, however, raise a whole bunch of interesting questions.

CIA has had a long history with resettling assets forced to flee countries abroad and start new lives here. CIA learned a long time ago that this was a difficult process. It is one thing to spirit a man out of his country to safety. It is quite another thing for him to then adapt, integrate into American society, and move on with his life. In any number of cases, the individual who has been resettled becomes, over time, angry and isolated and begins to feel that he has been betrayed by the men with whom he worked. He turns against us.

We know that, or at least we used to know that. Yet, apparently, based on what we understand right now, it appears we brought Lakanwal and presumably hundreds more like him into the United States and then cut them adrift, making not even a minimal effort to keep track of them or prevent them from radicalizing and going over to the other side.

Why?

We should keep in mind as well that Lakanwal and the others from CIA-affiliated units were vetted before they came here. They were known quantities in that sense. Thousands more Afghans were loaded onto planes in the final days of the withdrawal and flown here without even rudimentary background checks.

Where are they now? What are they doing?

The answer is apparently no one knows, and no one is trying to find out. The FBI is busy in Washington State now interviewing people about a crime that happened days ago. No one, it would seem, is doing anything to stop the crime that may occur tomorrow.

Critics will say that it is impossible to keep even cursory tabs on all these people, that we don’t have the resources. I don’t disagree that we have let in far too many individuals about whom we know virtually nothing. I would suggest, however, that if we are strapped for cash, we could start by cutting off the millions of dollars we still send to Afghanistan every month and put it toward preventing the next terrorist attack right here on American soil. We have, in total, sent close to $4 billion to the Taliban in one form or fashion since our withdrawal.

And, in the meantime, how about we get some answers to some really important questions, starting with - where are all the rest of these guys?