In a shocking turn of events, two National Guard troops were critically wounded in an ambush near the White House, exposing glaring flaws in past immigration policies.
According to Just the News, this tragic incident, tied to an Afghan national admitted under a Biden-era program, has reignited fierce debate over inadequate vetting processes, leading to an immediate halt in Afghan immigration processing by the current administration.
The suspect, a 29-year-old Afghan named Rahmanullah Lakanwal, entered the United States in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a program designed for Afghans who aided U.S. agencies during the war, including the CIA.
Operation Allies Welcome, implemented during the Biden administration, permitted around 85,000 Afghans to enter the country, often without thorough background checks.
Congress had raised alarms over the program’s lax standards, and this attack has only amplified those long-standing concerns.
Specifically, Lakanwal arrived on September 8, 2021, as part of this initiative, a fact that has fueled criticism of the oversight at the time.
A 2022 report from the Department of Homeland Security inspector general revealed that claims of vetting 99% of Afghan evacuees were far from accurate.
The report highlighted missing or incorrect data, such as names and travel documents, which meant that some individuals were admitted without proper scrutiny. This lapse in protocol has now come under the spotlight, with many questioning how such gaps were allowed to persist.
In the wake of the attack, the current administration swiftly announced a complete suspension of immigration processing for Afghan nationals.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services emphasized, “The protection and safety of our homeland and of the American people remains our singular focus.” (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services)
While this sounds reassuring, one can’t help but wonder why it took a tragedy to prioritize the safety that should have been non-negotiable from the start.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem didn’t mince words, stating, “The suspect who shot our brave National Guardsmen is an Afghan national who was one of the many unvetted, mass paroled into the United States under Operation Allies Welcome on September 8, 2021, under the Biden Administration.”
Such a stark admission begs the question—if the flaws were this obvious, why weren’t corrective measures taken sooner, before lives were endangered?
Adding another layer, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe disclosed that Lakanwal had ties to a CIA-backed paramilitary unit during the Afghanistan conflict. At the same time, just days before the incident, USCIS had already begun a comprehensive review of refugee admissions from January 20, 2021, through February 20, 2025, due to vetting concerns.